Omokri Unfit For Ambassadorial Appointment, Citizen Obienyem Tells Senate
Mr Valentine Obienyem, a lawyer and media personality, has urged the Nigerian Senate not to confirm the appointment of Mr Reno Omokri as an ambassador to save Nigeria from international embarrassment.
Obienyem in a Statement entitled “Re: The Unsuitability of Mr Reno Omokri for Ambassadorial Appointment” said he was guided by patriotic duty to draw the attention of the Senate to the troubling nomination of Omokri for an ambassadorial position.
He said Omokri had publicly and internationally crossed some lines which made him unsuitable for certain dignified offices, especially one that required him to be a representative of the nation before the world.
According to him, Mr Omokri, in the very recent past, launched a sustained, venomous campaign against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“In his own words, Mr Omokri described the President as a “drug addict,” a “drug pusher,” “an invalid who has lost his faculties,” and “the grandfather of corruption.”
“These statements were not made in private or in the heat of a distant youth. They were published, repeatedly and deliberately, for the world to see, he said.
Obienyem wondered what message Nigeria intended to send to the host country if Omokri was confirmed to represent Nigeria there.
He said Omokri s character and credibility would be a burden to Nigeria’s diplomacy if her chosen envoy had publicly declared the very man who appointed him a criminal and a moral wreck.
“How will Nigeria be respected when our ambassadors are seen as people whose personal convictions can be bent for convenience, or who are rewarded despite undermining the dignity of the state,” he queried.
Obienyem said his view was not partisan as Omokri had rights to freedom of association and political expression in a democracy but maintained that he was unfit to represent Nigeria abroad as an ambassador Which required honour, consistency and decency.
He said if President Tinubu found Omokri useful and insisted on appointing him, it should be to a domestic role as an aide or minister, where the embarrassment would be local.
“Our nation is already struggling to build an image of credibility and cohesion, we must not compound it by sending a man whose public record will haunt his diplomatic mission from the moment he lands.
“I trust that the Senate, under your watchful and distinguished leadership, will act in the interest of Nigeria’s dignity and reject this nomination,” he said.
