22 January, 2027
by Mohammed Bello Doka
The Presidency on January 22, 2026, released a statement announcing the posting of four ambassador-designates, stating clearly that the postings were made “out of the 68 confirmed by the Senate last December.” One of the names announced was Usman Isa Dakingari Suleiman, former governor of Kebbi State, as ambassador-designate to Turkey.
That single sentence has reopened a troubling question Nigerians thought they had already confronted during the tax reform bills controversy: how do names, clauses, or provisions appear in official documents when they were never approved by the body said to have approved them?
The Senate’s role in ambassadorial appointments is not symbolic. Under the Constitution, it confirms specific nominees submitted by the President. Those confirmations are tied to names, not to empty slots, future substitutions, or executive discretion exercised after the fact. Once confirmation is concluded, the list is closed.
Yet, in this case, the Presidency asserts that Dakingari’s posting flows from that Senate-approved list — a list in which his name does not appear.
This is not a dispute about timing, destination, or delay in posting ambassadors. It is a dispute about legislative legitimacy.
The list transmitted by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to the Senate in December, screened, debated, and confirmed, contained the following names:
Career Ambassadorial Nominees (34)
1. Abia State – Mwaobiola Ezeuwo Chukwuemeka
2. Adamawa State – Maimuna Ibrahim
3. Anambra State – Enpeji Monica Okochukwu
4. Bauchi State – Mohammed Mahmoud Lele
5. Bayelsa State – Endoni Sindup
6. Borno State – Ahmed Mohammed Monguno
7. Cross River State – Jane Adams Okon Michael
8. Delta State – Clark Omeruo Alexandra
9. Ebonyi State – Chimma Geofrey Davies
10. Edo State – Oduma Yvonne Ehinose
11. Edo State – Wasa Segun Ige
12. Ekiti State – Adeyemi Adebayo Emmanuel
13. Enugu State – Onaga Ogechukwu Kingsley
14. Jigawa State – Magaji Umar
15. Kaduna State – Mohammed Saidu Dahiru
16. Kano State – Abdulsalam Abus Zayat
17. Katsina State – Shehu Barde
18. Katsina State – Aminu Nasiu
19. Kebbi State – Abubakar Musa Musa
20. Kebbi State – Mohammed Idris
21. Kogi State – Bako Adamu Umar
22. Kwara State – Sulu-Gambari Olatunji Ahmed
23. Lagos State – Ramata Mohammed
24. Nasarawa State – Shaga John Shama
25. Niger State – Salau Hamza Mohammed
26. Niger State – Ibrahim Danlami
27. Ogun State – Adeola Ibrahim Mopelola
28. Ondo State – Ruben Abimbola Samuel
29. Osun State – Akande Wahab Adekola
30. Oyo State – Adedokun Esther
31. Plateau State – Gedagi Joseph John
32. Rivers State – Luther Obomode Ayokalata
33. Taraba State – Danladi Yakubu Yaku
34. Zamfara State – Bello Dogondaji
Non-Career Ambassadorial Nominees (31)
35. Adamawa State – Grace Bent
36. Akwa Ibom State – Solomon Ita Enang
37. Anambra State – Nkechi Linda Okocha
38. Bauchi State – Mahmud Yakubu
39. Bayelsa State – Philip K. Ikurusi
40. Benue State – Paul Oga Adikwu
41. Cross River State – Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (rtd.)
42. Edo State – Abasi Braimah
43. Ekiti State – Angela Adebayo
44. Ekiti State – Olumilua Oluwayimika
45. Enugu State – Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi
46. Imo State – Chioma Ohakim
47. Kano State – Abdulrahman Dambazzau (rtd.)
48. Katsina State – Tasiu Musa Maigari
49. Kogi State – Abubakar Sanusi Aliyu
50. Lagos State – Olufemi Pedro
51. Nasarawa State – Mohammed Ubandoma Aliyu
52. Ondo State – Jimoh Ibrahim
53. Ondo State – Joseph Sola Iji
54. Osun State – Femi Fani-Kayode
55. Osun State – O. Adewole
56. Oyo State – Florence Ajimobi
57. Oyo State – Lola Akande
58. Plateau State – Nora Ladi Daduut
59. Plateau State – Yakubu N. Gambo
60. Rivers State – Chukwujinka Okocha
61. Sokoto State – Haruna Abubakar
62. Taraba State – Jerry Samuel Manwe
63. Yobe State – Adamu Garba Talba Nangree
Earlier Cleared Names Integrated Into the Total (3)
64. Oyo State – Ayodele Oke
65. Jigawa State – Amin Mohammed Dalhatu
66. Ogun State – Colonel Lateef Kayode Are (rtd.)
This is the record that the Senate acted upon. Usman Isa Dakingari Suleiman is not on it.
From here, only two explanations are possible — and both are damning.
The first is that the insertion was deliberate. Under this scenario, someone consciously attached a new name to a Senate-confirmed list after the fact and presented it to the public as though legislative approval had already been secured. That would amount to an executive misrepresentation of parliamentary action, eroding the authority of the Senate and reducing confirmation to a procedural inconvenience.
The second possibility is that this is yet another “mistake” — an error signed, published, and defended at the highest level of government without verification. But if this is an error, it is one too many. It follows closely on the heels of the tax reform bills controversy, where Nigerians were asked to accept that controversial provisions somehow appeared in official texts after legislative consideration had supposedly ended.
Whether deliberate padding or institutional carelessness, the consequences are identical. Official documents lose credibility. Citizens are forced to question which records are authentic. Constitutional safeguards become flexible narratives rather than fixed guardrails.
More worrying is the pattern. These errors never disadvantage power; they always expand it. They never emerge during debate; they surface after approval. And they rarely attract consequences.
This will continue to happen until individuals are held personally accountable for the documents they issue in the name of the state. Governance by correction, silence, or after-the-fact explanation is not governance at all.
This is not about Dakingari as a person. It is about whether Senate confirmation still means what the Constitution says it means — or whether official lists in Nigeria are now provisional, subject to adjustment once public attention fades.
That is the real question Nigerians must confront.
Mohammed Bello Doka can be reached via [email protected]
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