Abuja, 5 December 2025 – President Bola Tinubu has forwarded to the Nigerian Senate a list of 68 ambassadorial nominees that includes the name of Adamu Garba Talba, a former senator from Yobe State who died five months ago.
Mr Talba, a two-term senator who represented Yobe South from 2007 to 2015 under the banner of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and later the All Progressives Congress (APC), passed away on 14 July 2025 at the age of 72 after a brief illness. His death was widely reported and confirmed by family members and political associates at the time.
The inclusion of the late politician in the non-career ambassadorial category for Yobe State has sparked outrage and raised fresh questions about the vetting process within the presidency.
The ambassadorial list, which President Tinubu sent to Senate President Godswill Akpabio on Wednesday, 4 December 2025, comprises 34 career diplomats and 34 non-career nominees. Mr Talba’s name appears alongside other prominent northern political figures, including former ministers and ex-governors.
Prominent Nigerians and social media users have described the error as “embarrassing” and “a new low” in the nomination process. “How does a president nominate a man who has been buried for nearly half a year?” one commentator wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Neither the Presidency nor the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued an official statement on the anomaly as of Thursday evening. Sources within the Senate, however, indicate that the Foreign Affairs Committee, which is scheduled to begin screening the nominees next week, will likely strike Mr Talba’s name from the list and request a replacement for Yobe State.
This is not the first time a deceased person has appeared on a federal appointment list. In 2016, President Muhammadu Buhari withdrew some nominees after it emerged that certain individuals had died before their names were announced.
The Senate is expected to address the matter when it resumes plenary next week. Until then, the inclusion of the late Adamu Garba Talba remains the most controversial item on an otherwise routine diplomatic posting exercise.
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