There was a. mild drama on Wednesday during ambassadorial screening when one of President Bola Tinubu’s career nominees, Emmanuel Adeyemi, stumbled over a basic question many senators considered fundamental: naming all three senators from his home state of Ekiti.
The Deputy Director in the Office of the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had dazzled the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs with an impressive résumé spanning Hong Kong and France, where he earned a PhD.
But the atmosphere of the screening room shifted the moment he attempted to pay tribute to “the two senators from my state”.
Adeyemi confidently mentioned Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele and Senator Yemi Adaramodu, but froze when he was about to mention the third senator.
When pressed further by the committee, the nominee was startled.
But a member of his delegation helped him to Google it and told him.
Senator Asuquo Ekpenyong, who condemned the lapse, described it as emblematic of a troubling decline among public office nominees.
Ekpeyong said: “Much as we admit that one man can’t know everything, it is expected that somebody like you, who has been nominated to represent the country as an ambassador, should know details like the three senators from your state.
“It is even important that the people we are presenting to the international perception of our country are competent enough to repair our image.”
Senators Adams Oshiomhole and Seriake Dickson backed Ekpenyong’s criticism.
