The Nigerian Senate has completed the screening of the three ambassadorial nominees forwarded to them for confirmation by President Bola Tinubu
The nominees, who appeared before the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs chaired by Senator Sani Bello (APC, Niger North), for screening on Thursday are Kayode Are (Ogun State), Aminu Dalhatu (Jigawa State), and Ayodele Oke (Oyo State).
Senate insiders hinted that the Committee’s report is scheduled for presentation at plenary for consideration and possible confirmation in due course.
Senator Bello, who spoke at the session, said Ayodele Oke addressed and cleared with the panel all allegations previously brought against him.
Oke, an alumnus of Emory University in Atlanta, is a former Director General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and previously served as Nigeria’s ambassador to the Secretariat of the Commonwealth of Nations in London.
For Dalhatu, he previously served as Nigeria’s Ambassador to South Korea under the Late President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
He is a seasoned diplomat with extensive experience in international relations and bilateral diplomacy.
On his part, Kayode Are is a retired Nigerian Army Colonel who was Director General of the Nigerian State Security Service (SSS) from 1999 to 2007 and briefly served as National Security Adviser in 2010.
Are also served as an officer in the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) until his retirement by General Sani Abacha. He was appointed as Director-General of SSS by President Olusegun Obasanjo, and served in that post from 1999 to 2007
He graduated with First Class honours in Psychology from the University of Ibadan in 1980
In a letter read by Senate President Godswill Akpabio during plenary last week, President Tinubu had requested the upper legislative chamber to confirm the three nominees for ambassadorial portfolios
