Television Nigerian

Next week, the Senate will scrutinize President Bola Tinubu’s 65 ambassadorial nominees closely as lawmakers pledge a stringent confirmation procedure to guarantee that only competent and patriotic people are assigned to represent Nigeria overseas.

The screening will not be “business as usual,” according to three opposition senators who spoke to Punch under condition of anonymity. They emphasized the necessity for qualified envoys given Nigeria’s present difficulties on the international scene.

According to a ranking senator, the nature of diplomatic postings necessitates people who are competent, honest, and focused on the national interest rather than just politics.

“We need seasoned and knowledgeable men and women who can represent and defend Nigeria’s interests before the international community,” the congressman stated.

“We would make sure that those who would represent Nigeria at the foreign missions are patriotic individuals with integrity because the ambassadorial position is not just about political patronage or a job for the boys.”

Each nominee will be “properly grilled” to make sure they are qualified for the position, according to another lawmaker.

President Tinubu asked the Senate to confirm the nominations during its plenary session on Thursday.

Godswill Akpabio, the Senate President, read the President’s letter, which contained 31 non-career candidates and 34 career ambassadors and high commissioners.

The request came after the Senate had already begun screening a previous batch of three nominees.

Tinubu asked the upper house to “consider and confirm expeditiously” the nominees, citing Sections 171 (1), (2), and (4) of the 1999 Constitution.

Among the notable career diplomats on the list are Ambassadors Maimuna Ibrahim (Adamawa), Ahmed Mohammed Monguno (Borno), and Sulu-Gambari Olatunji Ahmed (Kwara). Prominent non-career nominees include former presidential aide and senator Ita Enang (Akwa Ibom), former Chief of Army Staff Lt. Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (retd.) from Kano, and former Chief of Naval Staff and former Rivers State military administrator Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (retd.) from Cross River.

The Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs was given the list by Akpabio, who also gave them a week to finish the screening and turn in their findings.

The Senate President said, “The committee is to report back to us in one week.”

*Vows to report incident to CJN FCT CJ

Human Rights lawyer, Barrister Victor Giwa has said a judge, Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory sitting in Apo, brought in about 20armed policemen to court to intimidated him during his trial.

He vowed to report the incident to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN and the Chief Judge of the FCT high court, through a letter.

He said, “The judge brought 20 armed policemen to the court today because of me. Ten of those policemen were inside the courtroom. A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, had to ask the judge, ” My Lord, what is happening, why do we have policemen in the court”?

“There were armed men inside the courtroom. When I saw the policemen, I was thinking they came to arrest me, so, I hid inside my car. It was Justice Jude and Asabe Waziri, a staff of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, that made that arrangement.

“The judge is intimidating me in the court, I cannot get justice. I am writing a letter to the CJ and the CJN that I am not even safe in the court of Justice Jude because he has taken the case personal against me.”

Giwa while attempting to make submission before the court urged the court to give him audience.

The police had accused Giwa of forging letterhead paper of a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Awa Kalu.

But Awa Kalu, in a letter to the Inspector General of Police, Mr Kayode. Egebtolun, put a lie to the allegation of the police against Ibitade and Giwa.

Despite the letter of Prof. Awa Kalu to the Inspector-General of Police, formally distancing himself from the allegation of forgery and impersonation against Giwa and Ibitade, the police have gone ahead to press charge against Giwa.

Chief Kalu, in a letter to the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Kayode Egbetokun, had said his letterhead was never forged and that he had not at anytime lodged any complaint to the police about forgery of his document.

Professor Kalu, in a letter dated May 30, 2025, addressed to the Inspector General of Police, clarified that he neither filed a complaint nor reported Mr. Giwa for allegedly forging his firm’s letterhead.

During the proceedings, Thursday, Giwa broughta medical report that he was indisposed and would not be able to proceed with the matter.

He also added that he had e gaged a new lawyer who is supposed to argue his case for him before the court.

But the judge insisted that he must go on with the case.

Giwa had filed an application urging the judge to recuse himself from the matter.

The court was ready to begin hearing of the motion when Giwa told the court that he had a medical report from the hospital amd would not be able to proceed on the ground if ill-health.

But the judge insisted that he must proceed and move his application.

He later told the court that he was just served with the amended coubter-motion of the Police and had not had the opportunity to go through it.

It was at that point that the court adjourned the case to December 10, 2025.

In the application, Barrister Giwa asked the judge to recuse himself from the matter on the ground of bias and partisanship.

He said that he has no chance of getting justice before the court.

Aminu Shehu, an associate of Senator Abdulaziz Yari, has refuted social media claims that President Bola Tinubu is “caged” inside the Presidential Villa, according to the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Water Resources.

In a statement released on Thursday, Shehu characterized the widely shared assertion as untrue and an intentional attempt to mislead the public and create needless political conflict.

Shehu reportedly stated that the comments attributed to the former governor of Zamfara State after the One Nigeria Project Conference in Abuja were made up.

“A widely circulated social media report on Wednesday falsely claimed that Senator Abdulaziz Yari, a former governor of Zamfara State, said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is ‘caged’ inside the Presidential Villa,” the statement stated.

The assertion, which surfaced during the One Nigeria Project Conference in Abuja, has been verified as false information. The publication was rejected by many close to the senator as an intentional attempt to mislead the public and create needless political strife.

In actuality, Senator Yari made statements endorsing President Tinubu and urging Nigerians to stand together. Yari emphasized the President’s commitment to bringing stability back and advancing national development.

He claimed that because President Tinubu is committed to advancing Nigeria, he has been working nonstop and receiving thorough briefs from all significant sectors of the country. Yari claims that the President is deeply involved in the problems facing the country and dedicated to coming up with solutions that would help every citizen. Yari continued by saying that a large number of Nigeria’s issues are self-inflicted and need for cooperation to solve.

He emphasized that national togetherness is the only way to achieve true growth, saying, “This is because so much havoc was initiated by us ourselves, but we need to come together.”

“I was with the President in the night, and I told him that I would be here, and if he has time, he should watch what we are doing,” he said, disclosing that he directly alerted President Tinubu about his attendance at the conference. And I believe that support should be given to this organization.

“Senator Yari also addressed the negative rhetoric that frequently targets the President, highlighting the fact that many of the criticisms originate from people who ought to know better. The elite are the issue. People are mistreating Tinubu. “You are mistreating him because you are more aware of the issue than the facts,” he stated, emphasizing the necessity for integrity, accountability, and patriotism to advance the nation.

“Yari came to the conclusion that a shared commitment to growth and development, collaboration, and unity of purpose are necessary to achieve “One Nigeria.” His claims contrast sharply with the fabrications that are making the rounds on the internet.

A number of new people have been nominated by President Bola Tinubu to serve as non-career ambassadors.

Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas, a former naval chief and the immediate past sole administrator of Rivers State, is among those on the list, according to a statement released by the State House on Thursday.

Others include former Imo state first lady Chioma Ohakim, former senator Ita Enang, and former interior minister and army staff chief Abdulrahman Dambazau.

Additionally, the President proposed Fatima Ajimobi, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim, and Senator Nora Daduut to serve as non-career ambassadors.

According to reports, the list raises the total number of people President Tinubu has nominated to serve as ambassadors to 68.

Details to come.

Daniel Bwala, President Bola Tinubu’s Special Advisor on Policy Communication, criticized recent calls by some US politicians for Nigeria to do away with Sharia law on Thursday, calling the action an infringement on the nation’s constitutional integrity and sovereignty.

In an interview with Arise Television on Thursday, Bwala stated that any such foreign meddling in Nigeria’s domestic legal system is both intolerable and against international standards.

In response to a question on whether the US government has the authority to force Nigeria to change its constitution or outlaw Sharia law in the northern states, Bwala said, “They don’t have the locus.”

“Doing that will amount to violating a nation’s territorial rights and integrity,” he continued.

He emphasized that Nigeria’s federal framework permits different legal systems in different states.

“A national law is not sharia law. Although their federal style of government is more sophisticated, we also use it, Bwala clarified.

Additionally, Bwala denied that US President Donald Trump had threatened to use force in Nigeria, claiming that this would be against international law.

“There are only three conditions upon which another country can invade militarily, so even the threat of a potential military invasion is inconsistent with the US convention,” he stated.

“You are either invited by that nation, you are at war with that nation, or the UN requests that you be there.”

Bwala’s comments follow a congressional briefing in the US when senators were encouraged to advocate for the dissolution of Nigeria’s Hisbah religious police and the repeal of Sharia law.

Extremist organizations like Boko Haram and ISWAP “weaponize Sharia-based institutions and Hisbah operatives to advance extremist ideology, enforce forced conversions, and operate unchecked in many communities,” according to Dr. Ebenezer Obadare, a Senior Fellow for Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, who made this claim during the hearing.

However, Bwala maintained that Nigeria’s constitutional modifications are a domestic matter that is outside the jurisdiction of any foreign authority.

We don’t agree with them about changing our constitution. “We are not Venezuela; we are a sovereign state that has never been colonized by the United States anywhere,” he said.