By Emeka Amaefula
AMBASSADORIAL LIST SCANDAL ROCKS PRESIDENCY
Tinubu’s Nominees Trigger Outrage as Investigation Reveals Political Deals, Secret Pacts & Global Fallout
What began as a routine constitutional submission exploded into a full-blown political scandal yesterday after President Bola Tinubu’s long-delayed ambassadorial nomination list sparked national outrage and international concern. The list, nearly three years in the making, was expected to showcase some of Nigeria’s finest diplomatic minds. Instead, it has ignited accusations of political compensation, institutional compromise and the exportation of tainted loyalists into global diplomatic circles.
The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) fired the first shot, describing the list as “reprehensible, scandalous and a tragic reflection of the President’s values.” But behind the political fireworks lies a deeper, darker narrative uncovered by Investigations which describes it as one of political debts, orchestrated rewards, and quiet deals sealed long before the list reached the Senate floor.
Senior diplomats, security analysts and insiders across multiple ministries confirm that several nominees had been flagged in the past for questionable integrity, partisan extremism, unresolved misconduct or active roles in the controversial 2023 electoral cycle. One retired ambassador who reviewed the names told this newspaper, “This is not a diplomatic document—it is a political IOU list.”
None of the nominations has provoked more public anger than that of Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the immediate-past Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). His tenure was marked by broken transparency promises, technical failures and inconsistencies that coloured the 2023 elections. For many Nigerians, elevating Yakubu to a prestigious diplomatic post is the clearest sign yet that political obedience—not performance—has become the defining metric of reward under this administration.
Investigations reveal that Yakubu’s nomination was neither spontaneous nor incidental. Sources within the ruling party confirm that it is part of a broader strategy—one that analysts say sends a coded message to the new INEC leadership ahead of the 2027 elections: loyalty will be rewarded, dissent punished.
Compounding the scandal is the timeline. The President waited two years and nine months to present a full ambassadorial list, a delay that insiders say had nothing to do with difficulty finding competent candidates. Instead, it was driven by a gradual consolidation of political interests, negotiations with power blocs and the settling of electoral debts. During this period, many embassies were left in the hands of acting heads, weakening Nigeria’s influence in multilateral engagements and international negotiations.
Quiet concern is now spreading through diplomatic circles in Europe, North America and parts of Asia, where several of Tinubu’s nominees have already been flagged in internal perception reviews. A confidential diplomatic map reviewed by this newspaper shows “low trust” ratings for many of the proposed envoys and “adverse public perception” tags for several others. One EU analyst described the nominations as “a soft-power disaster waiting to happen.”
The PDP, in a statement by Comrade Ini Ememobong on November 29th, has demanded immediate withdrawal of the list and replacement with candidates of “unblemished character and proven democratic commitment.” Civil society leaders are calling for Senate rejection of the most controversial nominees, while some ruling-party insiders fear the scandal may escalate into a diplomatic crisis.
As Nigeria inches toward another election cycle, the ambassadorial list has become more than a bureaucratic document. It is a mirror exposing the values driving the current administration—a portrait many critics say is dangerously at odds with global standards of diplomatic integrity. Whether the President will withdraw the list, revise it, or push ahead despite the storm remains the question gripping the nation this morning.
——————Emeka Amaefula —–+234(0)8111813069—-
