President Tinubu has nominated Ayodele Oke, a former NIA Director General declared wanted by the EFCC for alleged theft and money laundering, as an ambassador, drawing scrutiny to his past.
The Senate on Wednesday received President Bola Tinubu’s first set of ambassadorial nominees Kayode Are, Aminu Dalhatu and Ayodele Oke marking the administration’s first diplomatic appointments since May 2023.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio announced that “the list contains three names for now, I am sure others will follow,” but one nominee, Ayodele Oke, a former NIA director general, had previously been declared wanted after a Federal High Court issued an arrest warrant over allegations that he and his wife stole $43 million, £28,000 and N23 million in public funds, part of which was found in their Lagos apartment during a 2017 EFCC raid.
Oke fled the country for “medical treatment” before facing fraud charges and was later suspended by the Buhari administration. Another nominee, former DSS DG Kayode Are, once had his home forcibly taken over by DSS operatives in 2015 before a court ordered his reinstatement. Critics have warned that delays in appointing ambassadors have harmed Nigeria’s diplomatic standing, especially after the U.S. designated Nigeria a “Country of Particular Concern” amid concerns over diplomatic engagement.