India, Other Countries Reject Tinubu’s Ambassador Nominees Over Tenure Policy

Some countries, including India, have reportedly refused to accept a number of ambassadors recently nominated by President Bola Tinubu.

The decision is linked to diplomatic practices that discourage receiving ambassadors from governments that have less than two years left in office.

Senior officials in the Presidency and Nigeria’s foreign service revealed on Tuesday that India follows a policy that makes it difficult to accept ambassadors from administrations nearing the end of their term.

One of the affected nominees is Ambassador Muhammad Dahiru, a career diplomat who has been assigned to serve in New Delhi.

Sources said India is using its discretionary authority to decline the request from Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to approve Dahiru’s appointment.

This situation confirms an earlier report in February 2026 which suggested that several of Tinubu’s ambassadorial nominees could face rejection from host countries because the administration is already approaching the later stage of its tenure.

Officials familiar with the issue, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of diplomatic talks, said Nigeria has begun receiving signals from New Delhi and possibly other capitals indicating hesitation to grant agrément.

Agrément is the formal approval a country must give before accepting an ambassador from another nation.

One Presidency official explained that India usually avoids accepting ambassadors from governments with less than two years remaining in power.

“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 PUNCH.

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.”

Another senior official in the foreign service confirmed India’s stance but said Nigeria might try to use its diplomatic relationship with the country to seek 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.

While India is the only country currently confirmed to have such a policy, the official noted that other nations might follow similar diplomatic practices.

“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 source said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs already has funds ready for the mandatory training programme for the ambassador-designates, although the date for the exercise has not yet been fixed.

“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.

On March 6, President Tinubu approved the appointment of 65 ambassadors and high commissioners to different countries and international organisations