Senate confirms Abike Dabiri-Erewa as Chairman of Nigerian Diaspora Commission

The Nigerian Senate, Thursday confirmed nomination f Abike Dabiri-Erewa for appointment as Chief Executive Officer/ Chairman of the Nigerian Diaspora Commission.

This announcement was made known to the public via their official Twitter handle.

Chairman of Nigerian Diaspora Commission, Dabiri-Erewa who is currently the Senior Special Adviser to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora was a three-term member of the House of Representatives representing Ikorodu Federal Constituency in Lagos between 2003 and 2015.

As a Reps member, she was chairman of House Committee on Diaspora Affairs; and had sponsored the bill seeking the establishment of the Nigerian Diaspora Commission.

You may recall that last month, Abike Dabiri helped secure and announced the release of two Nigerians who were wrongfully arrested in Saudi Arabia for drug trafficking. The two Nigerians, Zainab Aliyu and Ibrahim Abubakar have now been released thanks to the President’s quick intervention.

Ibrahim Abubakar was released just days after Zainab Aliyu who was held over drug-related charges got released. The news was confirmed by the Foreign Affairs Ministry via a statement from its Acting Spokesperson, Mr Friday Akpan,  who said the man identified as Ibrahim Abubakar also travelled on the same aircraft Zainab Aliyu was in and was also arrested on the same day.

“Zainab Aliyu, a Nigerian student who travelled for Lesser Hajj with her mother was arrested by Saudi Security Officials on Dec. 26, 2018, in a hotel in Madinah. She was accused of possessing a bag containing illicit drugs purportedly bearing a tag with her name.

“Another passenger, Ibrahim Abubakar, unrelated to Zainab, who also travelled on the same aircraft, was also arrested on the same day,” it stated.