Former Envoy Tasks Tinubu on Appointment of Ambassadors

Funmi Ogundare

A former Nigeria’s Ambassador to Indonesia, Mr.  Ibrahim Baba Mai-Sule, yesterday, advised President Bola Tinubu to consider the structure of the appointment of new ambassadors before issuing letters of credence.

Mai-Sule, who was a guest on The Morning Show AriseTV, spoke on the backdrop of the recall of the country’s ambassadors, explaining that there is a need to look at the quality of people, their background, funding of the missions and the kind of contribution they are making in such position.

He said: “I believe this should be part of restructuring itself and you will know their financial position if there is any need to follow up on the mission and put them under supervision. They should try to look at the structure.”

The former envoy who also spoke about the coup in Niger, said that the ECOWAS community should find a way of handling it peacefully, adding that Nigeria should also look into its electoral cases in court and ensure it disposes off its litigations.

“The entire country is undergoing litigations here and there, the important thing is to look more positive because the country belongs to all of us. I believe that whatever a
minister must do, it has to be checked by who appoints you because you are working on behalf of somebody.

“We should ensure that we dispose the first round of litigations before the inauguration of the National Assembly’s members. That will give people better confidence, but once you have got litigations hanging on your neck, people are looking at you, and will not speak well.

“So these are the kinds of things we should try to avoid. We should look at the way the judiciary is being run; we should be able to dispose the litigations within three months. We had recommended at a conference in 2014 that they should create a constitutional court that will be responsible for these kinds of issues. I didn’t think it’s fair to go to court for up to one year,” Mai-Sule stressed.