The Coalition of All Progressives Congress Support Groups on Thursday cautioned all recalled Nigerian ambassadors against carrying out a campaign of calumny against President Bola Tinubu.

It accused some of the envoys of waging spurious media war against the President.

The warning comes two months after the President through the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, ordered all ambassadors, 41 non-career ambassadors and 42 career ambassadors, to return to the country.

The heads of the foreign diplomatic missions were appointed by former President Muhammadu Buhari in July 2020 after they were confirmed by the Senate by section 171(2)(1c) and Subsection 4 of the 1999 Constitution.

But following the expiration of the October 31 ultimatum given by the president, some of the envoys failed to return as directed.

While some appealed for an extension of the deadline to enable their children to take their promotion exams in line with the academic calendar overseas, others complained of cash crunch saying allocations had not been remitted to the missions since June.

Addressing a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, the Chairman of the coalition, Rabi Dangizo accused some of the envoys of waging spurious media war against the President.

While describing their recall as a routine diplomatic process, Dangizo expressed dismay that some of the affected ambassadors were turning out to be ingrate.

He said, “This orchestrated media war must end to protect the integrity of Mr President and the sovereignty of Nigeria. The country is bigger than all of us. The general public is hereby advised to pay no heed to what is purely an administrative and procedural matter that has become the basis of misrepresentations in the media intended to undermine the government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima.

“Nigerians from all walks of life should remember, specially appointed public officials by the APC government, should remember that we have no any other country to call ours other than Nigeria. This caution also applies to those who will be appointed as ambassadors in the coming weeks, that they are first representatives of Nigeria’s interests and Mr President in their country of residence.

“We have also discovered that severance payments known as passages have been sent to the recalled envoys through the Central Bank of Nigeria. This is verifiable information. Also, they are well aware that severance payments in Nigeria and all over the world follow due diligence and other forms of bureaucracy before payments are received.

“At this juncture, we must thank those envoys who have not only written to their host governments but have registered their return in Abuja. Most importantly we thank President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for approving these payments as a testimony to the appreciation of the work of the envoys to Nigeria,” he added. (The PUNCH)

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