One crucial issue that Uncle Sam’s involvement in Nigeria’s perennial security predicament has dredged up and pushed to the forefront of public discourse is Tinubu’s refusal to appoint ambassadors for any of Nigeria’s next 109 diplomatic missions abroad, which include 76 embassies, 22 high commissions, and 11 consulates.
One of the palpable effects of the United States president Donald Trump’s interest in Nigeria’s troubling security situation is the forcing of the President Bola Tinubu-led government, whose habitual lethargy and insouciance on critical matters of governance borders on incompetence, to take decisions and actions it would ordinarily not have taken were it not for the concern and fixation of a powerful foreign government on Nigeria’s deepening security crisis and the purported persecution of Christians in the country which portrayed a government that is already battling low public trust and acceptance, in a bad light.
Since the designation of Nigeria as a country of particular concern over a month ago which was swiftly followed by Trump’s threat to take action if the Nigerian government does not put an end to the nation’s insecurity, particularly the alleged attacks and killings of Christians by Islamic jihadists in the country, the Tinubu government has taken some steps to address the concern raised by the United States government. Last week, President Tinubu declared a nationwide security emergency and the recruitment of more army and police personnel.
According to a statement containing the declaration, the police will recruit an additional 20,000 officers, bringing the total to 50,000. He also ordered the withdrawal of police officers assigned to VIPs and deployed them to areas battling insecurity in the country. While all these directives and pronouncements are commendable and sound great on paper, there is no indication that they will or have translated to improved security in the country. For example, many police officers assigned to VIPs are yet to be withdrawn after the order, signalling a brazen disregard for the president’s directive making much of his directive a mere public rhetoric backed by no real intent or enforcement.
One crucial issue that Uncle Sam’s involvement in Nigeria’s perennial security predicament has dredged up and pushed to the forefront of public discourse is Tinubu’s refusal to appoint ambassadors for any of Nigeria’s next 109 diplomatic missions abroad, which include 76 embassies, 22 high commissions, and 11 consulates. What this means is that since he came to power over two years ago the country does not have any seasoned and experienced diplomat to interface with foreign nations on its behalf and engage in important high-stakes bilateral engagement with the nation they are posted to.
Many have argued that the nation’s lack of ambassadors in key countries was responsible for the misconception and misinterpretation of the dynamics surrounding the Nigerian security crisis. They opined that if Nigeria had substantive ambassadors the characterisation of Nigeria as a dark place where instability and violence are the norm, where persecution and targeted killings of Christians are unwritten convention would not have formed let alone become the centrepiece of another nation’s foreign policy, a nation that has mastered the art of feigning genuine concern to advance its sinister interest.
After the castigation that trailed his refusal to appoint ambassadors after two years in office and as part of an effort to burnish the image of the country which has been somewhat sullied by the Christian genocide label, President Tinubu last week sent the names of 32 ambassadorial nominees to the Senate. 15 of the nominees are career ambassadors while 17 nominees are non-career ambassadors. However, a few names stuck out like a sore thumb as they raised eyebrows over their inclusion among the ambassadorial nominees. Their inclusion makes the list read like a compensation programme rather than a conscious effort to address the lack of a much-needed representative of the country in foreign nations.
The non-career ambassadorial nominee list boasts of reprobates, charlatans, grifters and other unscrupulous characters. It comes across as a compendium of who’s who in the league of characters with uninspiring reputations and distasteful antecedents. These characters include a former presidential aide, Reno Omokri (Delta), and former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmud Yakubu. Others whose logic and rationality behind their nominations have been questioned are former governor of Abia, Victor Okezie Ikpeazu, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim, businessman, lawyer and Senator from Ondo State and Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, a former aviation minister from Osun State.
These appointments, especially Reno and Mahmood, call into question the ability of the government to prioritise quality and exceptional statecraft over destructive patronage and political gamesmanship. It underscored Tinubu’s government’s disregard for optics and tact. It highlights its commitment to elevating characters that should remain a footnote of public discourse to national prominence.
Reno, for instance, has acquired a reputation for being an incorrigible rabble rouser and demagogue who deploys propaganda, half-truths and outright falsehoods to either prop up the Tinubu government or discredit and malign those opposed to its actions and policies. He is also known to disparage top politicians, while casting aspersions and denigrating Nigerians of Igbo extraction. His social media page is a cesspit of vile, abhorrent and classless harangues cloaked in the garb of honest and dispassionate socio-economic and political commentary. This kind of character should not be the face of our nation in a foreign land.
Also, the appointment of Mahmood, the erstwhile INEC helmsman, less than two months after stepping from his position as the chairman of the electoral body, leaves a sour taste in the mouth. Giving a man who oversaw the deeply flawed and highly controversial election that saw your emergence as president an appointment soon after he stepped down from his position gives an appearance of compensation.
The optics are bad and it does nothing to endear a government that is battling with legitimacy and public acceptance to the people it governs. It somewhat lends credence to the widespread notion that the election that produced Tinubu as president was not fair and credible and was manipulated to achieve a predetermined outcome and the appointment of the man who supervised the electoral charade was compensation for a job well done.
Furthermore, the appointment of Fani Kayode, Ikpeazu and Ayodele Oke, former director of the National Intelligence Agency, leaves so much to be desired. These are people indicted in graft and corruption. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have been prosecuting Oke since 2019. Oke and his wife were declared wanted after they failed to appear before a Federal High Court in Lagos to answer charges linked to the discovery of $43.4 million, £27,800 and ₦23.2 million in an Ikoyi apartment in April 2017.
A government must always factor in public perception in the way it manages the affairs of the state. Going by many of its actions and decisions, the current government has shown that it is not interested in the optics of its actions, and that is not a way to govern. Showing naked disdain for what matters to the people is not a mark of firmness but a gradual erosion of public confidence in the government. One can only hope that the Senate does the right thing by doing its job properly, which will lead to the rejection of some of these questionable ambassadorial nominees. But when it comes to doing what is right and standing by the country, the current crop of federal lawmakers has repeatedly shown that they are incapable of being their own men. Let’s hope that logic and common sense will prevail this time around.