NIGERIA: PRESS REPORTS OF NEW AMBASSADOR TO THE

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABUJA 000740 SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/W, INR/AA BAGHDAD FOR DMCCULLOUGH E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/28/2019 TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR NI SUBJECT: NIGERIA: PRESS REPORTS OF NEW AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES' NAME GOING TO THE SENATE REF: SANDERS-SILSKI 4/14/2009 E-MAIL Classified By: Political Counselor Walter Pflaumer for reasons 1.4. (b & d). ¶1. (C) On April 12, Foreign Minister Maduekwe mentioned to Ambassador that the GON had settled on a candidate to be its Ambassador to the U.S., Dr. Tunde Adeniran, a Professor at the University of Ibadan who was formerly the Minister of Education and Ambassador to Germany in the Obasanjo government (see bio info, below). Maduekwe said the GON would be sending in the request for agrement shortly. (Note: We have, however, not yet received the agrement request. End note) ¶2. (SBU) Nigerian newspapers This Day and The Times of Nigeria reported on April 25 that President Yar'Adua sent Adeniran's name to the Senate for confirmation on April 24. We will continue to monitor where Adeniran's process is in the GON bureaucracy. ¶3. (SBU) Biographical Information: Tunde Adeniran was born in Ekiti State in 1945. He is a member of the ruling Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) and was the party's unsuccessful candidate for Ekiti State Governor in 1999. He made further unsuccessful attempts to gain the PDP nomination for Governor in 2003 and 2007. From 1999 to 2003, he served as Minister of Education under President Olusegun Obasanjo and as Nigerian Ambassador to Germany from 2004 to 2007. Adeniran is a political scientist, educated at the University of Ibadan and Columbia University in the United States. He worked for the United Nations in the mid-1970s and reportedly taught at St. John's. He taught International Relations at the University of Ibadan, serving as Sub-Dean in the Faculty of Social Sciences from 1980 to 1981 and Chair of the Political Science Department from 1994 to 1996. He reportedly enjoys soccer, tennis and creative writing. ¶4. (U) This message has been cleared by Consulate Lagos. SANDERS