President Buhari appoints new Ambassadors for Nigeria The President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari has approved the deployment of a former Minister of State for Defense, Demola Seriki, to Spain as Nigerian Ambassador while a former Minister of Mines and Steel, Sarafat Ishola, will serve as the High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. Ambassador Ishola, who is from Ogun State, is also an ally of a former Governor of the state, Senator Ibikunle Amosun. Also, the Editor-in-Chief of The Guardian, Debo Adesina, will serve as Nigeria’s Ambassador to Togo. About 11 ambassadors were reappointed but eight were retained in their current countries of posting while three others were redeployed. The current Nigerian Ambassador to Ireland, Dr. Uzoma Emenike, who is also a career diplomat, was posted to the United States as the ambassador, while M.I. Bashir will serve as deputy ambassador. In all, there are 52 non-
career envoys posted out by the President and 43 career ambassadors based on the confirmed list from the Senate. According to the list, the eight ambassadors that will remain
at their duty posts include: Ambassador Mohammed Rimi (United Arab Emirates), Ambassador Jidda Baba (China), Ambassador Gani Bura (Lebanon), Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar (Germany), Ambassador Baba Madugu (Switzerland) and Ambassador Deborah Illiya (Congo). Ambassador Tijani Muhammmad-Bande will also retain his position as the Permanent Representative to the United Nations, New York while Ambassador Adeyinka Asekun will remain the High Commissioner to Canada. However, Ambassador Modupe Irele, who is the current Ambassador to France is redeployed to Hungary while Ambassador Eniola Ajayi, the Ambassador to Hungary is redeployed to the Netherlands. For non-career diplomats, Ambassador Ms Ijeoma Chineyerem will resume as the Ambassador to Ireland, Ambassador Oma Djebah will be posted to Thailand, Ambassador Abdulahi Shehu (Russia), Ambassador Haruna Manta (South Africa), Ambassador Kayode Laro (France), Ambassador Paul Adikwu (The Vatican), Ambassador Abubakar Moriki (Japan), Ambassador Mrs. Opunimi Akinkugbe (Greece) and Ambassador Ali Magashi (South Korea) Other postings include Ambassador M.O. Abam (Italy), Ambassador N.A. Kolo (Israel), Ambassador A. Sule (India), Ambassador G.Y. Hamza (Ghana), Ambassador A.N. Madubike (Australia) and Ambassador O.C Onowu (Belgium). It would be recalled that Ambassador Onowu has earlier served in the Netherlands before returning to the headquarters in Abuja and finally confirmed as an Ambassador of Nigeria The remaining appointees are expected to serve as deputy ambassadors or heads of mission. They include A.E. Alleboy (Deputy Ambassador to France), G.E. Edokpa (Deputy Permanent Representative to The UN), Ben Okoyen (Cuba), G.M. Okeke (Deputy Head of Mission to Switzerland), S. Sani to London, (Deputy High Commissioner to UK), I.A Iwejuo (Ethiopia as Deputy Ambassador), I.A. Alatishe (Deputy Ambassador to Russia) and I.R. Ocheni (Germany). Congratulations to all the new Nigerian diplomats.
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