Senate confirms Buratai, other ex-service chiefs as ambassadors
…PDP fumes
The Senate, on Tuesday, confirmed the appointment of former service chiefs as non-career ambassadors-designate.
Their confirmation followed the consideration of the report of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, Senator Mohammed Bulkachuwa. President, Ahmad Lawan, had on February 10, directed the Committee on Foreign Affairs to confirm General Abayomi Olonisakin (retd.) (Ekiti); Lt-Gen. Tukur Buratai (retd.) (Borno); Vice Admiral Ibok- Ette Ibas (retd.) (Cross River; Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar(retd.) (Bauchi); and Air Vice Marshal Muhammad S. Usman (retd.) (Kano) as non-career ambassadors of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
An attempt by the Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, to draw the attention of his colleagues to a petition against their confirmation was stopped by the President of Senate, Ahmad Lawan.
Abaribe had asked Bulkachuwa, to explain why the petition against them was dismissed but Lawan said the petition lacked merit.
However, in its response, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has berated the All Progressives Congress (APC) leadership in the Senate for betraying Nigerians by clearing the former services chiefs for ambassadorial portfolios despite reports of crime against humanity committed under their command.
The party in a statement signed by the national publicity secretary,
Kola Ologbodiyan insisted that the clearance will not stop the investigation and possible prosecution of the accused commanders by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crime against humanity, which preliminary steps have already commenced by the ICC.
“It is indeed horrendous that the APC leadership in the Senate could choose to betray Nigerians by rushing to clear the accused ex-service chiefs in a desperate attempt to grant them diplomatic immunity and shield them from investigation and prosecution for the atrocities committed against Nigerians under their command,” the statement read.
“Though it is public knowledge that the current APC Senate leadership is a mere rubber stamp and contrivance being used to endorse atrocious policies and suppress the will of the people, but descending to the level of aiding and abetting crime against humanity by attempting to confer diplomatic immunity on the accused ex-commanders is, to say the least, despicable. It is indeed shameful that the APC leadership in the Senate could clear the ex-service chiefs, who the National Assembly had earlier indicted and requested for their sack over security failures and alleged compromises. Such reward of failure amounts to stabbing our nation in the back.”
