JUST IN: Nigeria ambassador to Morocco, Bamalli passed away

Alhaji Mansur Nuhu Bamalli, Nigeria’s Ambassador to Morocco, has died.

Bamalli is also the Magajin Garin Zazzau and the Emir of Zazzau’s biological younger brother.

According to a statement made on Friday by the Zazzau emirate council’s Media and Publicity officer, Mansur Nuhu Bamalli died at a private hospital in Lagos while on his way to Morocco.

The statement added that “funeral prayers will be announced later.”

Bamalli, who was appointed by ex-President Muhammadu Buhari a year ago, will be missed by a wife and two children.

In a letter dated October 7 and signed by the then-Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, Buhari stated that the appointment was made in appreciation of “decades of meritorious service to our fatherland in the Nigerian Foreign Service.”

The letter read, “You shall be invited in due course for the ceremony of investiture. Please, accept my warm felicitations and those of the Honourable Minister of State, the Permanent Secretary and the entire staff of the Ministry.”

Before his appointment, he was a deputy director at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Recall that the Foreign Affairs Ministry under the administration of President Bola Tinubu issued a notice for the recall of Nigeria’s ambassadors, both career and non-career envoys across 300 foreign missions worldwide, but the diplomats are yet to return to the country owing to logistics, including Authority to incur Expenditures (AIEs) for passages.

AIEs are the details of the entitlement of each envoy in terms of their passages and other travel arrangements to return to Nigeria.

Recall that the Foreign Affairs Ministry, under President Bola Tinubu’s administration, issued a notice for the recall of Nigeria’s ambassadors, both career and non-career envoys, from 300 foreign missions around the world, but the diplomats have yet to return to the country due to logistics, including Authority to incur Expenditures (AIEs) for passages.

AIEs explain each envoy’s entitlement in terms of passes and other travel arrangements to return to Nigeria.