Tinubu’s Ambassadors: Laundering Corruption in Diplomatic Passports -By Vitus Ozoke, PhD

And then the Nigerian government acts surprised when Nigeria, with its image in the gutter, is treated like a joke. And they ask: “Why does the world look down on Nigeria?” What do you expect when your messenger is a documented liar? We keep asking the world to “respect us” while consistently presenting our worst citizens as our official faces and voices. Respect is not demanded; it is earned. And no amount of protocol can compensate for rot. A country that sends thieves as ambassadors should not be shocked when it is treated like a crime scene. Diplomatic immunity was designed to protect diplomats – not to protect criminals cosplaying as diplomats. But Nigeria treats it like bulletproof moral armor. Foreign countries know this. They see the files. They read the reports. They understand perfectly well when a country is trying to smuggle disgrace under a flag.

Now, let us address the uncomfortable but necessary question: Can a country reject an ambassador? The short answer is: Yes. Absolutely. Unequivocally. Under international law (specifically the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations), no country is obligated to accept anyone another country sends. No country is required to accept your garbage just because you wrapped it in a flag. Diplomatic immunity is not moral immunity.

International law does not say, “Accept all ambassadors, no matter how criminal, corrupt, or grotesquely unqualified.” It states that the receiving country must agree, approve, and consent before an ambassador can assume post. Without it, the nominee is diplomatically dead on arrival. Countries reject ambassadorial nominees all the time – quietly, firmly, but sometimes brutally.

If nations can deny tourist visas to criminals, corrupt officials, and human rights violators, then diplomatic passports are not magical cloaks of moral invisibility. A diplomatic passport does not launder character. It is not a baptismal certificate. It does not wash sins away. It does not erase criminal records. It does not convert thieves into statesmen. It merely advertises them internationally. It simply exposes how unserious the sending country is.

So yes, foreign countries not only can reject ambassadorial nominees, they should, especially when due diligence screams, “Danger! National embarrassment approaching!” Rejecting a corrupt ambassador is not a diplomatic insult; it is a sanity check. Accepting one is self-harm. And this is where Nigerians abroad come in. If you are Nigerian abroad, this part is for you – and it will not flatter you. We must stop being polite spectators to our own disgrace. Silence is no longer neutral; it is complicity. Politeness is surrender. If Nigeria insists on exporting disgrace, Nigerians abroad must refuse to be passive consumers of it.

When a deeply compromised individual is sent to your country as Nigeria’s representative, your silence is an endorsement. Every smiling photo-op, every handshake, every “let us be respectful” is a betrayal of the country you claim to love. When such a figure is posted to your country as Nigeria’s representative, protest – peacefully, loudly, and legally; petition the host country’s foreign ministry; refuse photo-ops, endorsements, and respectability theater; engage civil society, journalists, and lawmakers; present documented records, not gossip; persist, not once, not loudly, but consistently; and refuse to clap for nonsense. This is your lawful call to patriotic arms.

And let us not pretend that Bola Tinubu himself does not understand this reality perfectly. He is not confused. He understands power. He understands optics. He understands consequences. Tinubu knows – they all know – that sending Nigeria’s most compromised, criminally scented, and intellectually bankrupt political rejects to serious nations or serious institutions is not an option. I will bet you this. When Tinubu assigns postings to his ambassador nominees, you will never see these deplorables posted to the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Switzerland, China, Russia, Australia, or anywhere near the United Nations. Those places are not run on sentiment or “African solidarity.” They are run on files, intelligence briefings, and consequences.

Sending known criminals and corrupt political operatives to those countries would not be treated as a mistake. It would be treated as a hostile behavior – a willful attempt to abuse diplomatic norms. A quiet but severe reprimand would follow. Not only would they be rejected, but doors would close, files would thicken, and Nigeria would be marked. I will bet a substantial sum that Bola Tinubu will reroute the refuse. He will send them to fellow African countries and the Caribbean, treating those nations as diplomatic dumping grounds, less deserving of dignity, as though African solidarity means swallowing Nigeria’s garbage with a smile. As though respect is optional when the recipient is Black and formerly colonized. But even that era is ending. A serious African country like Rwanda will not accept Nigeria’s diplomatic sewage. The world is no longer fooled. The dumping grounds are filling up; Nigeria is running out of places to hide its shame. Sadly, only Nigeria still pretends this is normal.

So, the next time someone introduces himself as “Dr.”, squint and ask: Doctor of what, exactly? And the next time someone is called “Ambassador”, do not stand, investigate. And when someone says, “This is how things are done in Nigeria,” let your response be: That is precisely why Nigeria is where it is. Respect, like titles, must be earned. Nigeria deserves better representatives than the ones currently being shipped out like defective goods, with diplomatic seals. If Nigeria is to stop withering everything it touches, it must first stop touching everything with corruption. Until Nigeria stops exporting criminals as ambassadors and buying intelligence with honorary degrees, it will remain exactly what it is today: A loud country with nothing credible to say – and no one credible to say it.

Dr. Vitus Ozoke is a lawyer, human rights activist, and public affairs analyst based in the United States. He writes on politics, governance, and the moral costs of leadership failure in Africa.