The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to post former service chiefs to neighbouring countries as ambassadors.
Lawan stated this after the Senate confirmed the ex-service chiefs as ambassadors-designate on Tuesday.
The former service chiefs confirmed are Gen. Abayomi Olonisakin (retd), Ekiti; Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai (retd), Borno; Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (retd), Cross River; Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar (retd), Bauchi; and Air Vice Marshal Muhammad Usman (retd), Kano.
The Senate President said they should be deployed to countries where their experiences as former military officers would be required.
Lawan said, “Our appeal to the executive is to make sure that we utilise their experiences as military men to the best, because we should be able to post them to countries where they can be much more useful in their engagements as ambassadors.
“Without prejudice to what the executive will do, the new ambassadors-designate should be posted to neighbouring countries where we need to fight the Boko Haram insurgency and banditry.
“Because of their experience in the field, they should be able to interact very closely and sufficiently to advise and create the atmosphere for working together, for partnership and cooperation between Nigeria and those countries.”
According to him, the Senate resolution for the removal of the former chiefs was not related to Buhari’s request for the red chamber to confirm them as ambassadors-designate.
In his remarks, the Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Muhammad Bulkachuwa, said their appointments were made in line with Section 171 (40) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
Meanwhile, the Senate Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe, protested why the petitions by the committee was dismissed, particularly against the backdrop of the Senate’s resolution calling for their removal as service chiefs.
