Former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, has arrived in Doha to assume duties as Nigeria’s ambassador to Qatar..
Yakubu, who concluded his tenure at the helm of the electoral commission late last year, was among the ambassadorial appointees named by President Bola Tinubu in a wave of diplomatic postings that drew considerable public attention at the time of their announcement.
On Wednesday, upon his arrival in the Qatari capital, the new envoy was received at the airport by Ambassador Ibrahim Yousif Abdullah Fakhro, Director of Protocol Department at the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs — a reception that signalled Doha’s formal acknowledgement of his posting.
Read Also:Qatar declares Iranian diplomats persona non grata
The welcome party extended well beyond protocol officials as 13 African ambassadors turned out to receive Yakubu, alongside the Secretary General of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum, Dr Philip Mshelbila, and Michael Ndukaihe Ihekwaba, President of the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation in Qatar.
The breadth of the reception underscored Nigeria’s standing in Doha as a gateway to the African continent and hinted at the scale of expectations that will greet the incoming ambassador.
Yakubu’s posting to Doha is anything but a ceremonial reward or quiet retirement from public life. Qatar has evolved into a global nerve centre of diplomacy and sovereign capital, and Abuja is keen to deepen its footprint there.
The new ambassador inherits a brief that cuts across energy, investment, geopolitics, and diaspora affairs.
