“National Disgrace: Tinubu Sends ‘Failed Leaders and Loyalist Sycophants’ to Represent Nigeria Abroad”
By Passman Akpos
Nigeria erupted in indignation on Saturday day after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s latest ambassadorial nominations triggered a nationwide uproar, with critics describing the list as “a national embarrassment packaged as foreign representation.”
Human rights lawyer Inibehe Effiong, Esq., in a blistering public statement, blasted the nominations as a “painful reinforcement of a system that rewards failure, controversy, and political decay.”
According to Effiong, the ambassadorial list reads like “a roll call of individuals whose public records should disqualify them from representing Nigeria anywhere—much less on the global stage.”
> “Those who have contributed to Nigeria’s destruction are largely the ones nominated to be the image and voice of our country abroad.It is a travesty.” — Inibehe Effiong, Esq.
Effiong’s statement—already circulating across social media with explosive public reactions—described the nominations as a reflection of “a country that constantly rewards criminality and misdeeds,” insisting that many of the names on the list are “career politicians who failed woefully in previous assignments, shameless sycophants, and morally questionable figures.”
But the most controversial allegation came when he criticized the inclusion of Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the INEC chairman whose stewardship of the 2023 elections remains deeply polarizing.
> “I find it particularly upsetting that the same discredited Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu, who supervised a highly disputed and rigged election in 2023, has now been rewarded with an ambassadorial position,” Effiong declared, describing it as “the ultimate insult to Nigerians.”
Across the country, the backlash has been swift and fierce. Civil society groups, opposition figures, youth activists, and thousands of angry citizens online are accusing the government of turning diplomacy into a retirement package for political loyalists, while neglecting Nigeria’s global reputation.
Effiong concluded with a dire warning:
> “No country on earth has prospered through a shambolic, corrupt and discredited leadership recruitment process.”
As the outrage grows, analysts warn that the controversy may further deepen public distrust in a government already battling legitimacy concerns from various quarters.
One thing, however, is clear:President Tinubu’s ambassadorial list has detonated a political firestorm—and the nation is not keeping quiet.
