Buhari sacks Nigeria’s US, UK envoys citing poor job performance, retains 12 others

Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Justice George Oguntade, and the Nigerian Ambassador to the United States, Justice Sylvanus Nsofor have been sacked from their positions over what President Muhammadu Buhari considered as their “unsatisfactory performance” in the execution of their duties.

Presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, in a statement yesterday said the president renewed the appointments of 12 other non-career diplomats as ambassadors following a satisfactory performance evaluation, adding, however, that Buhari was yet to decide whether those who survived the axe would be retained in their current portfolios or be assigned different posts of responsibility

Shehu listed the ambassadors who were retained as: Mrs. Uzoma Emenike (Abia); Mr. Yusuf Tuggar (Bauchi); Mr. Muhammad Madugu (Bauchi); Mr. Baba Jidda (Borno); Mr. Uyigue Oghogho (Edo) and Dr. Eniola Ajayi (Ekiti); Ms. Deborah Iliya (Kaduna); Mr. Mohammed Rimi (Katsina); Prof. Tijjani Muhammad-Bande (Kebbi); Dr. Modupe Irele (Lagos); Mr. Adeyinka Asekun (Ogun) and Senator Goni Bura (Yobe).

Amid complaints of marginalization from certain quarters which trailed the recent appointment of 42 non-career ambassadors, Shehu quoted the president as promising to uphold the federal character principle of fair representation and inclusiveness in all governance affairs, saying no state will be left out without diplomatic representation.

According to the statement, the president congratulated the ambassadors on the renewal of the jobs and admonished them to continue to uphold and promote the values of stewardship to Nigeria, while bridging good relations with other nations.