by Azeez Adeniyi

Jacob Igbekele Daudu, one of the rejected ambassadorial nominees on Thursday demanded an apology for the Department of State Services (DSS) for describing him as corrupt.

The Senate had rejected Daudu who is from Ondo State due to a report by the DSS describing him as deceitful.

Daudu who spoke in Abuja said he learnt about the report when the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs quoted from it.

[Read Also: Senate rejects 82-year-old ambassadorial nominee]

He noted that the DSS had previously screened him on many occasions, including when he was appointed a Special Adviser to the Ondo State Governor in 2009, and as the chairman of OSARMCO in 2010.

He said he was also cleared by the DSS before he became a Commissioner in Ondo State in 2012.

Daudu added that the DSS cleared him when he presented himself for screening for his ambassadorial nomination.

He added that a letter by his state’s governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, objecting to his nomination may have been the reason behind his rejection.

He said, “I am still surprised at how the DSS later arrived at their conclusion. There is no fact to this.

“There is no basis for which I should be pronounced as corrupt and deceitful, particularly when nobody complained about my conduct. No petition against me, no court case against me and no court pronouncement to that effect.

“I have my reservation as to why the Ondo State governor wrote a letter of protest against my nomination in favour of another All Progressives Congress member from the southern senatorial district where all the federal appointments came from.”