Five ambassadorial nominees haunted by controversies
By Daylight
December 7, 2025
Ibas
As the Senate prepares to screen President Bola Tinubu’s ambassadorial nominees, attention is shifting to those whose controversies could weigh on their representation of the country overseas.
After nearly two years without substantive envoys after recalls from the country’s 109 foreign missions, President Tinubu on Sunday, November 26, sent three names to the Senate as ambassador-designates.
Last Saturday, the President followed up with another list containing 32 names.
On Thursday, he transmitted a letter to the Senate updating the list to 65 nominees.
According to the letter, 34 persons were nominated as career ambassadors and high commissioners, while 31 others were nominated as non-career ambassadors and high commissioners.
In the letter, Tinubu urged the Senate to give swift consideration to the nominees to help fill key diplomatic positions.
The President’s letter was read at plenary by Senate President Godswill Akpabio, who said Tinubu asked lawmakers to give the nominations urgent consideration.
He referred the list to the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, directing the committee to screen the nominees and report back within one week.
However, the President has come under heavy criticism over the composition of the list.
Opposition parties, civil society groups, and several Nigerians have accused some nominees of having serious integrity and accountability concerns.
The Peoples Democratic Party, African Democratic Congress and New Nigeria Peoples Party, particularly, accused President Tinubu of using strategic diplomatic postings to reward political allies and controversial figures.
They specifically criticised the nomination of former Independent National Electoral Commission Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, calling it “scandalous.”
Sunday PUNCH has shortlisted five nominees with such controversies:
Ayodele Oke
Oke, a former Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency, is one of Tinubu’s ambassadorial nominees facing integrity concerns.
In 2019, The PUNCH reported that the EFCC declared Oke and his wife, Folasade, wanted for failing to appear in court to answer N13bn money-laundering charges against them.
The couple had reportedly travelled abroad for medical treatment in late January, shortly before their scheduled arraignment.
Justice Chukwujeku Aneke of the Federal High Court, Lagos, issued an arrest warrant against the couple on February 7, 2019, following an oral application by EFCC counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo.
A statement by the then EFCC spokesman, Tony Orilade, noted that Oke and his wife were wanted in connection with $43m, £27,800, and N23.8m recovered by the commission from an apartment on Osborne Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, in April 2017.
Under Oke’s leadership, the NIA was said to have collected $289,202,382 in cash for special operations from the account of the National Petroleum Investment Management Services at the Central Bank of Nigeria in February 2015.
The agency claimed the funds were for covert intelligence operations, but the Federal Government maintained it was a case of looting.
The FG subsequently set up a three-man panel headed by former Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, which indicted Oke and recommended his dismissal.
Criminal charges were filed against him and his wife over the cash found at the Ikoyi apartment.
However, the EFCC later withdrew the charges on grounds of national security.
New charges were filed in February 2025, but there was no successful arraignment as both husband and wife had left the country.
Ibok-Ete Ibas
Ibas, a retired Vice Admiral, served as the Sole Administrator of Rivers State from March to September 2025.
He was accused of mismanaging N283bn during his brief tenure.
In October, the ICPC confirmed receiving a petition demanding a probe into the handling of Rivers State federal allocations by Ibas.
The ICPC spokesperson, Demola Bakare, said the petition had been forwarded to the commission’s legal department for review.
“Yes, we have received the petition and will look at its merit. It has a process. We receive it at the registry, the chairman gets it, and he forwards it for a legal opinion,” he said.
The petition, filed by civil rights activist and lawyer, Deji Adeyanju, was titled, ‘Petition for the Investigation into the Financial Expenditure of Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas (retd.), Former Sole Administrator of Rivers State.’
Adeyanju urged the ICPC to urgently investigate Ibas’s financial activities during his administration between March 18 and September 17, 2025.
Also, the Rivers State House of Assembly said it would investigate the state expenditure during the six months of emergency rule.
The assembly disclosed this during its first plenary after the end of emergency rule.
This was even as Civil Society Organisations and Rivers elders demanded accountability from Ibas over the money the state received from the Federation Account Allocation Committee.
But, reacting, Ibas said the lawmakers lacked the power to investigate him, pointing out that they didn’t appoint him as the administrator of the state.
He described the lawmakers’ resolve as commentary, adding that the attempt to probe the former administrator was tantamount to probing the President, who appointed him, as well as the National Assembly, which supervised the activities of Ibas as the state administrator, as he then was.
Okezie Ikpeazu
Okezie Ikpeazu served as governor of Abia State from 2015 to 2023 on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party. He defected to the All Progressives Congress in April 2024.
In 2024, an audit report by KPMG International Nigeria Limited indicted Ikpeazu for allegedly diverting N1.9tn from the state’s treasury during his tenure.
According to Premium Times, incumbent Governor Alex Otti commissioned the firm to audit the state government’s finances between May 29, 2015, and May 28, 2023.
The 359-page forensic audit report, titled, ‘Final Report: Provision of Process Review Services to Abia State Government’, indicted Ikpeazu for mismanaging the state’s funds.
Funds allegedly mismanaged included payments for non-existent projects, loans released without stated purpose, unremitted internally generated revenue, illegal deductions, payments made before approval, and allocations or withdrawals lacking supporting documents or vouchers.
The report stated that the alleged illegal activities violated various sections of state laws and government mandates, including the Abia State Public Procurement Law 2012 and the Abia State Financial Regulations (as amended in 2001).
The Commissioner for Information in Abia State, Okey Kanu, disclosed in June 2024 that the state government had handed over a copy of the report to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for possible prosecution.
Reno Omokri
Omokri, a former aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, was one of the most vocal critics of President Tinubu during the 2023 election cycle before suddenly switching his political stance.
During the 2023 campaign, Omokri told Arise TV that Tinubu was a drug lord.
“I have facts to back this up, I have documents to back it up. I spent my money, went to Chicago, went to court, and got certified true copies to prove that Bola Tinubu is a drug lord,” he said.
In 2022, Omokri led a protest against Tinubu at the Chatham House in the United Kingdom.
In 2023, during an interview with Channels TV, Omokri ruled out ever working with Tinubu.
“I cannot do it. It is just against my principles. Some people can do that, but it is not in my DNA. It is never going to happen. I wish Bola Tinubu well, but I can never work with him,” he said.
Omokri’s nomination may face additional hurdles following a petition submitted to Senate President Godswill Akpabio and other senators by a former mayor of Blanco City, Texas, in the United States, Mike Arnold. In the petition shared on his X handle, Arnold described Omokri as a “danger” to Nigeria, warning that if appointed as an ambassador, he would de-market the country.
“Do not let this man carry your flag. He will embarrass you on the world stage within six months,” Arnold said.
Femi Fani-Kayode
Known for making controversial statements, the former Minister of Aviation was one of the ardent critics of Tinubu before he defected to the ruling party in 2021.
Known for his eloquence, Fani-Kayode also falls into the category of controversial politicians. As a member of the PDP, Fani-Kayode was a vocal critic of President Tinubu and the APC.
“I am committed to opposing the APC and those that are in their ranks for the rest of my natural life, and I will never join them no matter what! They are nothing but darkness whilst I stand for the light of God and truth: there can be no fellowship between light and darkness,” he tweeted on December 15, 2019.
Fani-Kayode did not limit his verbal assaults to the APC.
He described Tinubu as a man with “bad health and always on drugs” on his Facebook page on March 4, 2015.
He also described Tinubu as the biggest traitor ever known in Nigeria.
In a statement on March 18, 2015, Fani-Kayode said, “He (Tinubu) has betrayed every single person that he has worked with and he has thrown them to the dogs at the last minute for a price. During the days of NADECO, he betrayed the cause by colluding with the government of the day secretly while pretending to be a NADECO leader.
“The truth is that this man has not only sold his soul to the devil but he has also sold his followers for a pittance and he is leading them into perdition. He wants to buy and sell Nigeria too, and it is time for somebody to tell him that Nigeria is not for sale. This is what Chief Fani-Kayode and others are in the process of doing.”
Fani-Kayode has faced criminal prosecution, corruption charges, and trials spanning four major cases and appeals by the EFCC over the last 18 years, but he was acquitted of all charges.
No petition against nominees yet – Senate Meanwhile, the Senate said it had not yet received any petition against any nominees.
The Senate spokesperson, Yemi Adaramodu, in an interview with Sunday PUNCH on Thursday, explained that while there had been public concerns, the Senate could only act on written petitions submitted through proper channels.
Adaramodu noted that the screening of nominees had been referred to the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, which had one week to carry out its responsibilities.
“As of now, we have not received any petition against any nominee. The list was just read today (Thursday). If there is going to be any petition, we believe the committee will pass it to the Senate,” Adaramodu said.
He emphasised that the committee’s work was only the first stage, as the full Senate would still question each nominee before taking a final position.
Adaramodu added that the Senate had the power to reject any nominee found unfit for the role during the screening process. Punch
