India and other yet-to-be disclosed countries have declined to accept some of President Bola Tinubu’s recently posted ambassadors-designate due to diplomatic policies that discourage receiving envoys from administrations with less than two years remaining in office, The PUNCH has gathered.
High-ranking officials in the Presidency and the foreign service disclosed on Tuesday that India, where career diplomat Ambassador Muhammad Dahiru has been designated to serve, maintains a standing policy against accepting ambassadors from governments with tenures of less than two years remaining.
Our correspondent gathered that the Asian giant is exercising its discretionary powers to turn down the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ request to accept Dahiru’s posting.
The development confirms an earlier exclusive report by this newspaper in February 2026, in which sources revealed that storms were brewing for many of Tinubu’s ambassador-designates who faced the prospect of rejection by host countries due to time constraints on their tenure.
Three separate sources familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of diplomatic negotiations, said the Federal Government was already receiving signals from New Delhi and possibly other capitals about their reluctance to grant agrément.
Agrément is the formal approval given by a receiving country to accept a diplomat designated by the sending country, and it is a prerequisite before an ambassador can assume duty.
“They don’t accept an ambassador from an administration that has less than two years in office. So they are giving us that body language already,” a Presidency official told our correspondent.
The source continued, “Some countries are reluctant to accept some people, not because of the individuals but because of time. They are already seeing the Tinubu government as an outgoing government.
“So their concern is that he has just one year left, so what if he doesn’t win the election? Another government may come and remove them. We also understand that some countries have this policy. Any ambassador from an administration that has less than a year or two in office will not get accepted. And one of such countries is India.”
A second source, a senior foreign service official, confirmed India’s position but expressed hope that Nigeria could leverage its relationship with New Delhi to secure an exception.
“I know India has that policy. If you are less than two years to the end of the tenure, there will be difficulties accepting an ambassador. Maybe we can leverage our relationship with them to scale through that.
“Of course, there are those among them who gauge political tides, and some may see that this government can win the next election. Perhaps they may see that the election may not be so competitive because virtually everybody has moved towards the APC. They may say the chances for APC’s victory are high. That is one of the arguments the government will push forward,” the official said.
The source emphasised that while India is the only country with a confirmed policy against short-tenure ambassadors, other nations may follow similar conventions.
“India is the only one I can confirm to you for now. The others will be based on their conventions and practices. But the one I know for sure now is India. We will have to do a lot of convincing because they have a standing rule,” the official stated.
A third official disclosed that while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had secured funding for the mandatory induction course for ambassadors-designate, the timeline remains uncertain.
“On the training, we don’t know when for now. But the Foreign Ministry has the funds already to undertake the induction course,” the source said.
President Tinubu, on Friday, March 6, approved the postings of 65 ambassadors-designate and high commissioners to various countries and the United Nations, with Ambassador Dahiru assigned to serve in New Delhi.
Among the 65 nominees are former Aviation Minister Femi Fani-Kayode (Germany), presidential aide Reno Omokri (Mexico), former Katsina State Governor Lt Gen Abdulrahman Dambazzau (China), and Senator Jimoh Ibrahim (UN Permanent Representative).
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has so far only received agrément from the United Kingdom for High Commissioner-designate Aminu Dalhatu and from France for Amb Ayodele Oke, leaving the fate of the remaining 63 envoys uncertain.
The Independent National Electoral Commission has scheduled the next presidential election for January 16, 2027. Tinubu’s first tenure is set to conclude in May that year.
In an earlier report, our correspondent had gathered that several countries may insist that ambassadors have a minimum tenured period of a year or two tied to the life of the sending country’s administration.
A highly-placed foreign service official had then disclosed, “The problem we have, which we are trying at the moment to see what we can do about, is that most countries, like India, will tell you that if an ambassador has less than one year or two, they may have issues.
“Usually, one year counts to the end of any current administration. So, that is where there might be a challenge. By the time they get the agrément, some of these ambassadors will have just a few months left.”
The official noted that some ambassadors may not commence their tours of duty until August 2026, which would leave them with barely nine months before the next election.
“Some people may not go before August because some countries will take their time to do background checks. When you send the name, sometimes they will respond, ‘Send someone else.’ And when you insist on asking why, they will give you their own report of their background checks. Or they may just ignore you for six months,” the official disclosed.
Under Article 4 of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, receiving states must grant consent before any ambassador can be accredited.
In an interview with our correspondent, Nigeria’s former envoy to Singapore, Amb Ogbole Amedu-Ode, said receiving states were only being pragmatic by considering Nigeria’s political calendar before accepting an envoy.
“The underlying word here is pragmatism. Those receiving states are just being pragmatic if they take that view because the next round of general elections is in a year from now, in February and March.
“The question is now about an envoy from a president who is facing an election in a year. Elections, no matter how we think we understand them, can go either way.
“So, why receive letters of credence from a principal envoy from a President who has just one year and some months remaining for his first term in office? So, they may dilly-dally in issuing an agrément,” Amedu-Ode said.
He described the administration’s delay in nominating ambassadors as a mistake.
“The mistake has been made by the current administration already because they shouldn’t have waited two to three years into their term before nomination, screening, and deployment of heads of missions.”
However, Nigeria’s former envoy to Algeria, Mohammed Mabdul, had noted that friendly nations were unlikely to reject Nigerian nominees outright but drew a distinction between career and political appointees.
“The political appointees are the problem. Once received and accredited, they are usually expected to remain for two to three years. But with the next election in just a year now, there is the possibility that they may start returning to participate in campaigns. So, they may not make any serious impact with their posting,” Mabdul stated.
The diplomatic impasse may further delay Tinubu’s last-ditch efforts to restore full ambassadorial representation abroad 27 months after he recalled all 83 career and non-career ambassadors in September 2023 and left the country’s 109 missions without substantive heads.
Since assuming office, the Tinubu administration has strengthened ties with India.
The President visited India in September 2023 to attend the G20 Summit in New Delhi as a guest nation, where he met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss bilateral cooperation in defence, agriculture, trade, and investment.
Just over a year later, in November 2024, Modi made his first visit to Nigeria in 17 years, the first by an Indian prime minister since 2007.
During the two-day visit, the leaders signed Memoranda of Understanding on cultural exchange, customs cooperation, and survey cooperation, and discussed expanding the India-Nigeria Strategic Partnership established in 2007.
Tinubu bestowed upon Modi Nigeria’s second-highest national honour, the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger, making him only the second foreign dignitary after Queen Elizabeth II to receive the award.
(Punch)
