President Tinubu has nominated Ayodele Oke, Col. Lateef Are (retd.), and Amin Dalhatu as non-career ambassadors to the US, UK and France, pending Senate confirmation
Tinubu Nominates Oke, Are, Dalhatu as Non-Career Ambassadors to US, UK, France
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has nominated three non-career ambassadors to represent Nigeria in the United States, the United Kingdom, and France, marking a significant step in filling key diplomatic positions abroad.
The nominees—Ayodele Oke, Colonel Lateef Are (retd.), and Amin Dalhatu—were announced in a statement released by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, via an X post on Wednesday. Their postings will be confirmed after Senate screening and approval.
According to the statement, Amin Dalhatu previously served as Nigeria’s ambassador to South Korea during the administration of the late former President Muhammadu Buhari.
Ayodele Oke, an alumnus of Emory University in Atlanta, is a former Director General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and once served as Nigeria’s ambassador to the Secretariat of the Commonwealth of Nations in London.
Colonel Lateef Are (retd.) brings decades of security and intelligence experience to the table. He served as Director General of the State Security Service (SSS) from 1999 to 2007, was appointed National Security Adviser in 2010, and earlier worked with the Directorate of Military Intelligence. He graduated with First Class honours in Psychology from the University of Ibadan in 1980.
President Tinubu formally transmitted the nominations to the Senate for consideration on Wednesday. The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, read the letter during plenary and directed the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs to screen the nominees and submit its report within one week.
The nominations follow sustained calls for the President to fill ambassadorial and high commissioner positions, many of which have remained vacant since ambassadors were recalled in September 2023.
Former Minister of External Affairs, Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, had previously stressed the importance of ambassadorial appointments, arguing that diplomacy still depends heavily on personal engagement.
“I believe credible appointments should be made to the vacant ambassadorial posts. We need to fill them,” Akinyemi said in an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today in September.
“The absence of ambassadors does not deny us information. But diplomacy runs on ambassadorial contact, the interaction between governments and ambassadors.”
Meanwhile, the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs had dismissed criticisms over the delayed appointments, insisting in June that Nigerian missions remained fully operational and effectively represented by experienced foreign service officers, including seasoned chargés d’affaires. The ministry acknowledged long-standing structural and funding challenges but insisted that Nigerian diplomats continue to serve with distinction despite difficult conditions.
The Senate’s screening of the new nominees is expected to pave the way for Nigeria to strengthen its diplomatic presence in three of the world’s most strategic capitals. Read More
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