Politics

Hilarious! Buhari’s ambassadorial nominee can’t recite national anthem

Published

8 years ago

July 27, 2016

There was humour and embarrassment on Tuesday exposing the lack of knowledge of many top Nigerians on key national symbols like the National Anthem and the national Pledge.

This came to the fore as the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs kick started the screening of Ambassadorial nominees forwarded to the Senate for approval by President Muhammadu Buhari.

No fewer than two of the nominees were unable to recite the National Anthem and the Pledge, as the Senator Monsurat Sunmonu-led committee screened them.

A nominee from Anambra State, Vivian Okeke, provided the first embarrassing humour when she was asked by the committee’s chairperson to sing the National Anthem.

Okeke was only able to mumble a few stanzas of the anthem before she was assisted by a member of the committee, Senator James Manager.

But answering questions, she however advocated that changes must be made in the areas of the fight against corruption, insurgency and the diversification of the Nigerian economy.

Next on the embarrasing humour chat was the nominee from Niger State, Alhaji Ibrahim Bida, who is currently serving in Turkey.

Bida, during his screening, could not recite the National Pledge when he was asked to do so.

Bida’s humorous mixing up of the words of the pledge sent the committee members, including the chairperson, into bouts of laughter, as the nominee kept stammering.

Bida however made up for his deficient knowledge of the pledge with his explanation of how China got its economy right because the country’s President at the time of recession chose to shut its doors against other nations and was busy rebuilding China through domestic policy approach.

The committee on Tuesday screened 15 out of the 47 nominees sent to it.

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