President Bola Tinubu has approved the redeployment of Femi Fani-Kayode as ambassador designate to South Africa after he was reportedly rejected by the German government.
Senator Ita Enang will replace Fani-Kayode as Nigeria’s Ambassador to Germany.
This is coming following a report that the German government rejected Fani-Kayode’s nomination.
President Tinubu, on March 6, approved the posting of the former minister to a Central European country as an ambassador designate. But the German government rejected Mr Fani-Kayode’s postingto the country on March 13, 2026.
The German government said it rejected Mr Fani-Kayode’s nomination due to his “erratic behaviour, controversial past statements, particularly his divisive ethnocentric, tribalistic, and religious fundamentalist comments in Nigeria”, which the European country said was “destabilising”.
Mr Fani-Kayode’s rejection by Germany came days after the former minister insulted the United Kingdom’s high commissioner to Nigeria, Richard Montgomery, during an argument at a Ramadan dinner hosted by Senator Bashir Lado, the president’s special adviser on Senate matters, at his Abuja home.
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But in a post on X, Fani-Kayode claimed he rejected his initial position to Germany.
He equally claimed he was the one that opted for South Africa.
Fani-Kayode wrote: “It gives me pleasure to announce the fact that Mr. President has graciously approved my posting as Nigeria’s Ambassador-Designate to South Africa.
“This came a few days after the initial posting to Germany was announced and after I made a formal representation to the then Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar, that I was not comfortable with Germany for a number of personal reasons and given the fact that I had lived in Europe most of my life I would prefer to go to South Africa which is a country that l had never been to and for which I have so much interest.
“I also expressed the fact that I would rather serve in a country that shares some of my convictions, beliefs and values when it comes to world affairs, that has the biggest economy in Africa, that has closer ties to Nigeria and that is more proximate to my political thinking when it comes to foreign affairs and a pan African vision”.
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