Leadership / Nigeria: There was a mild drama during the screening of ambassadorial nominees by the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs chaired by Senator Monsurat Sunmonu, yesterday, when four out of the 15 nominees screened couldn’t either recite the national anthem or the pledge properly, to the shock of lawmakers and journalists present.
Another nominee also couldn’t remember the exact number of local government areas in her home state of Delta before a senator from the state and member of the screening committee, James Manager, bailed her out with the answer as 25.
LEADERSHIP recalls that President Muhammadu Buhari had on June 8, 2016 sent a list of 47 career Ambassadorial Nominees to the Senate for confirmation.
Although all of the affected nominees had full grasp of international relations and diplomacy from their responses to questions from lawmakers, they apparently had lost touch with happenings in their home country probably due to their long stay in foreign missions.
For instance, the nominee from Anambra State, Vivian Nwunaku Okeke, had issues with the rendition of the national anthem after a superlative performance in other areas, while Alhaji Ibrahim Isah, the nominee from Niger State wobbled while reciting the national pledge after giving a detailed and wonderful analysis of events in the Middle East.
The nominee from Kano State, Baba Garba, also struggled with the recitation of the national pledge
