In a striking blow to the political establishment of Plateau, President Muhammadu Buhari has snubbed the state in his appointment of ambassadors.

In a long list of 47 appointees, the president appointed nominees from almost all states of the federation (except a few PDP controlled states of the South) and Plateau state (even though the governor is from APC).

The lavish list of 47 ambassadorial nominees, comprised numerous states with 2 or 3 nominees like  Borno (2) Katsina (2), Benue (2) Gombe (2) and Edo states(2) but Plateau was conspicuously overlooked and snubbed. Not a single person was nominated into this lavish list.

And so the logical questions to ask are: What does this cold snub portend for the political standing of Plateau in the committee of states? What does that mean for the competitiveness of the state on the national stage? What does it mean for the political influence and participation of Plateau in the Nigerian democracy? Does it mean the states with 2 or 3 nominees have keener attention from president Buhari? Does President Buhari view Plateau as a pariah state? Should we as citizens of Plateau be worried?

Well, as it stands, aside Solomon Dalung (current the minister of sports) and Prof. Angela Miri (Vice Chancellor of Federal University, Lokoja), no other Plateau person has made it into President Buhari’s administration (bear in mind the President has over 5,000 appointments to make – none of which have favoured Plateau, except the two (of Dalung and Miri) I mentioned earlier.

In fact the only other Plateau citizen in a position of authority was Mr. Paradang Dimka, the erstwhile controller of immigrations. However, he was sacked by President Buhari because of false accusations stemming from the Nigeria Immigration Service recruitment exercise.

As it stands, only Dr. Jonah Madugu (a commissioner of the Federal Civil Service Commission), who was appointed by then president Goodluck Jonathan is  currently filling Plateau state’s quota at the Federal Level.

Several people have commented that the appointments are simply based on civil service careers etc, but investigations by ViewPointNigeria reliable gathers that Plateau state has at least 2 qualified directors at grade level 16 (the same grade that most of the people on the list are) and 1 on grade level 15. The fact that these gentlemen have been overlooked is a slight to the state on many levels. Mr. Katkuk for instance was in the chancery in Turkey, Ankara for several years before being transferred to other African countries etc.

Mr. Gazing J Dangtim currently holds the lofty position of Charge d’Affaires in the Nigerian embassies of Austria and Slovakia and is very much qualified to be appointed ambassador. See the link below:

http://www.nigeriaembassyvienna.com/

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Below is the full list of President Buhari’s ambassadorial nominees.

List Of Ambassadorial Nominees

1. Obinna Chukwuemeka Agbugba (Abia)

2. Salisu Umaru (Adamawa)

3. Inyan Udo-Inyang (Akwa Ibom)

4. Okeke Vivian Nwunaku (Anambra)

5. Liman Munir (Bauchi)

6. Ndem Jane Ada (Benue)

7. Mohammed Hassan Hassan (Borno)

8. Martin Nyong Cobham (Cross River)

9. Janet Omoleegho Olisa (Delta)

10. Itegboje S. Sunday (Edo)

11. Olatunde Adesesan (Ekiti)

12. Lilian Ijeukwu Onoh (Enugu)

13. Manaja Tula Isah (Gombe)

14. Ngozi Ukaeje (Imo)

15. Bello Kazaure Huessini (Jigawa)

16. Enoch Pear Duchi (Kaduna)

17. Garba Baba (Kano)

18. Usman Bakori Aliyu (Katsina)

19. Umar Zainab Salisu (Kebbi)

20. Momoh Sheidu Omeiza (Kogi)

21. Kadiri Ayinla Audu (Kwara)

22. Balogun Hakeem (Lagos)

23. Inusa Ahmed (Nasarawa)

24. Ibrahim Isah (Niger)

25. Bankole Adegboyega Adeoye (Ogun)

26. Ibidapo-Obe Oluwasegun (Osun)

27. Ogundero Sakirat (Oyo)

28. Eric A. Bell-Gam (Rivers)

29. Attahiru Halliru (Sokoto)

30. Rahmatu A. Dunama (Taraba)

31. Musa Saban Mamman (Yobe)

32. Kabiru Bala (Zamfara)

33. Adamu Onoze Shuaibu (FCT)

34. Demenongu A. Agev (Benue)

35. Toko Ali Gongulong (Borno)

36. Ibrahim Hamza (Katsina)

37. Kenneth C. Nwachukwu (Imo)

38. Queen I. Worlu (Edo)

39. Emmanuel Kayode Oguntause (Ekiti)

40. Paragalda Ilyasu Audu (Adamawa)

41. Lawan Abba Gashagar (Borno)

42. Olufemi Abikoye (Kwara)

43. Habu Abubakar Gwani Ibrahim (Gombe)

44. Rabiu Akawu (Kano)

45. Nonye Udo (Anambra)

46. Odeka Janet Bisong (Cross River)

47. Sonaike Adekunbi Abibat (Ogun)

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Buhari snubs Plateau in ambassadorial nominations – but why?