PREVIEW
Eighteen months after taking power, the President has appointed ambassadors to his country’s leading trading partners
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has unveiled a new senior diplomatic team, including a new ambassador to the United States, in a hint at which countries are its diplomatic priorities.
Retired Colonel Lateef Are, will be the next US ambassador. Meanwhile, Ayodele Oke, a former director-general of the National Intelligence Agency, will become Abuja’s man in Paris, the presidency said in a statement on 22 January.
The two jobs are the most important diplomatic posts for Tinubu’s government, which has developed close relations with French President Emmanuel Macron who is seeking allies following France’s eviction from the Sahel region, and now faces a diplomatic firefight to restore relations with the Trump administration in Washington (AC Vol 65 No 25, Macron tilts to Anglophone Africa after Sahelian exits). Oke had originally been earmarked for the Washington post last year, and the presidency has given no explanation for the switch.
Amin Dalhatu, former ambassador to South Korea, will become the high commissioner to Britain and Usman Isa Dakingari Suleiman, former governor of the northern Kebbi State, will become ambassador to Turkey. Ankara has emerged as a key focus for business and investment for Tinubu.
Despite signing a lucrative health funding deal with the US as part of President Donald Trump’s ‘America First Global Health Strategy’, Tinubu has been frustrated by Trump’s claims of genocide against Christians in Nigeria (Dispatches, 5/1/26, After shutting down USAID, Washington launches $15 billion health pacts in Africa). Earlier this month Tinubu’s government signed a US$9 million public relations contract with DCI Group, whose staffers include veteran Trump ally Roger Stone, to rebuild relations and prove that it is protecting the Christian community in Nigeria (AC Vol 67 No 2, Tinubu and Biafra lobbyists join war for Trump’s ear over Christian genocide claims).
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