<\/p>\n
The Senate screening of former presidential aide, Reno Omokri, took a dramatic turn on Thursday as two senior lawmakers openly disagreed over his nomination. <\/p>\n
What began as a routine exercise before the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs quickly shifted into a tense exchange between Senator Adams Oshiomhole and Senator Ali Ndume.<\/p>\n
Oshiomhole threw his full weight behind Omokri\u2019s nomination, describing him as a patriotic Nigerian whose public interventions have often promoted the country\u2019s image. <\/p>\n
He argued that Omokri had demonstrated courage by admitting his past misconceptions when confronted with \u201ccompelling evidence\u201d that favoured Nigeria\u2019s interest. <\/p>\n
According to him, such behaviour showed maturity and readiness for diplomatic responsibility.<\/p>\n
Ndume, however, insisted that the chamber must follow due process. He stressed that the screening of ambassadorial nominees must remain orderly and must not be influenced by personal sentiments. <\/p>\n
Ndume attempted to interject while Oshiomhole was speaking, a move that triggered the heated confrontation.<\/p>\n
Oshiomhole, visibly irritated, snapped back at Ndume, saying: \u201cUntil you are called, you cannot shut me down.\u201d
He went on to add, \u201cI have the authority of the chairman. You\u2019re not the chairman and cannot exercise the power you don\u2019t have.\u201d<\/p>\n
The clash continued as Oshiomhole accused some lawmakers of making comments \u201chere and there\u201d and acting as if they had the authority to halt the process. <\/p>\n
He noted that some individuals had publicly questioned the ambassadorial list and that such criticisms should not be ignored. <\/p>\n
The former Edo governor argued that Omokri had proven himself by consistently defending the nation when needed, describing him as a \u201cpragmatist\u201d who was \u201cnot detained by old feelings.\u201d<\/p>\n
He further stated that Omokri\u2019s willingness to acknowledge when he had been wrong was a key quality required for diplomatic assignments. <\/p>\n
Oshiomhole also emphasised that Nigeria had a sitting President whose decisions deserved support, adding that his own experience as a former governor placed him in a position to guide those \u201cwho are not governors.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the commotion, the committee continued the screening, though the confrontation left many senators visibly unsettled.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Senate screening of former presidential aide, Reno Omokri, took a dramatic turn on Thursday as two senior lawmakers openly disagreed over his nomination. What began as a routine exercise before the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs quickly shifted into a tense exchange between Senator Adams Oshiomhole and Senator Ali Ndume. Oshiomhole threw his full […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":238161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-238160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2025_12_11_2358175817.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}