BY Okiwelu Azed
There are political chameleons then there is Reno Omokri, a man whose public life has unfolded as a long performance of outrage sanctimony and self-promotion. His reported inclusion on the latest list of ambassadorial nominees has stirred disbelief across the country. It is not surprise. It is not anger. It is something deeper. A sense that our collective memory is being mocked in broad daylight.
Mr Omokri has built a career drifting between praise and poison depending on which direction opportunity blows. Conviction has never been his compass. Weather has been. Appetite has been. The scent of advantage has been. His appearance on the recent nominees list left many Nigerians blinking in disbelief not the disbelief that comes from shock but the disbelief that comes when a nation realises its memory is being treated as a disposable toy. Nigeria has seen political acrobatics although this one carries a new flavour of insult because it depends on selective amnesia.
For years he projected himself as a moral force. He styled himself as a defender of democracy and a guardian of truth. That image held only for those who never looked closely. Beneath the sermonising sat a practitioner of convenience who switched positions as easily as a man flips a light switch.
Nothing illustrates this better than his dance around Peter Obi. At one moment he practically serenaded Obi with the zeal of a new convert. He praised his frugality and discipline. He presented him as a model of leadership in a murky political river. Then without warning the same lips spat fire at the slightest breath Obi made in a direction he did not fancy. Every remark became a target. Every idea became provocation. This was not ideology. It was opportunism. Outrage activated whenever a new script was needed. Mockery the moment fresh opportunity drifted by. Shameless like the he-goat that chases every she-goat in sight with reckless abandon, moved not by purpose but by impulse. Mr Omokri never met a political opening he would not pursue.
His journey has never been one of conviction. It has been a long parade of convenience. He positioned himself as a moral compass although every turn pointed towards whichever figure offered a better route to relevance. One day Obi was a model of public virtue. The next day he was an object of sneer. Before that the President was unfit for national life. Today Mr Omokri lingers in the corridor of the same government he once attacked with evangelical fury.
His war on the man now serving as President followed the same pattern. He did not engage ideas. He attacked character. Television studios became platforms for insinuation. Whole books were written not to enlighten but to destroy. He travelled abroad to hunt documents that might feed his crusade. Social media became a sewer of bile. None of this was principled dissent. It was targeted demolition.
He carried these accusations long enough and loud enough that they stuck. He used Nigeria’s name as fuel for personal battles. He embraced stories that damaged the country’s image abroad because they strengthened his private war at home.
Now suddenly the same man who roared about the President’s alleged unworthiness seeks to slip quietly into the silk of diplomatic privilege. There is no introspection here. No shift of conscience. Only hunger. Only calculation that the same system he once vilified may now serve him if he performs a new script with enough energy.
For those who defended the President through difficult seasons this episode feels like betrayal. It suggests loyalty is ornamental while opportunism is the true currency of advancement. It suggests a man may spend years tearing down a leader then pivot and collect reward as if the past were an inconvenience to be swept aside.
To nominate Mr Omokri for an ambassadorial position is to test the limits of our tolerance for contradiction. Ambassadors carry Nigeria’s dignity into rooms where impressions solidify quickly. Every foreign capital will find his past statements. Every search engine will retrieve his insults. What coherent face can such a figure present on behalf of the country he once attacked for sport?
Public office cannot serve as sanctuary for shape-shifters. A diplomat needs steadiness and sincerity. He needs a record that signals consistency. Mr Omokri’s record signals only self-preservation. Every shift aligned with personal advantage. Every conversion coincided with reward. He preached principle although practised convenience.
The Senate carries the responsibility to uphold national dignity. His case should not be the usual ‘take a bow’. Declining this nomination would not be pettiness. It would be basic hygiene. It would tell young Nigerians that character still matters. It would reassure supporters that loyalty is not foolishness. It would affirm that national honour is not a toy.
Nigeria does not need envoys who treat truth as prop or integrity as costume. Nigeria needs envoys who can speak for the country without trailing malice and contradiction. In a world that judges nations by the credibility of their representatives we cannot afford to outsource our reputation to a man who reinvented himself each time survival demanded.
Nigeria must choose dignity over drama principle over performance sincerity over the politics of convenience.
He toured television studios armed not with analysis but with insults. He travelled to Chicago as if he were custodian of global truth although each expedition was driven by spite not patriotism. He ran a global roadshow of accusations stitched together for maximum noise. None of it resembled principled advocacy. All of it resembled hunger dressed as activism.
To imagine such a figure wearing a diplomatic badge stretches national tolerance to its limits. Diplomacy requires calm mind and consistent character. Mr Omokri offers neither. What he offers is a record of convenient amnesia and shifting loyalty. Today he apologises for yesterday’s slanders. Tomorrow he rebrands himself as patriot. The next day he resumes attack the moment another political cloud appears.
Every search engine will resurrect his venom. How does a man who so energetically defaced the country’s image now hope to represent it with dignity?
A diplomat must defend national honour. Mr Omokri spent years undermining it. A representative must speak with clarity. He speaks with whichever tongue suits his stomach infrastructure.
Rewarding such fickleness signals to young Nigerians that opportunism is a viable career path.
Withdrawal of his nomination would be restorative. It would show that integrity still matters and that public honour cannot be handed to a man who never held one.
Nigeria deserves envoys of steadiness not shape-shifters. Representatives of conscience not merchants of convenience.
Nigeria has seen summersaults before although the move to place Mr Omokri on an ambassadorial list still feels like a new chapter in bewilderment. The news landed not as shock but as a reminder of how swiftly some public figures abandon yesterday’s crusade the moment tomorrow’s door opens.
He built his brand on loud righteousness although it masked a career of weather-based morality. He fought ferociously when it suited him then clasped the same hands he once scorched when his prospects required a new script.
His attacks on the President were not debate. They were demolition. Books interviews and endless broadcasts were designed to wound not to inform. Each accusation was launched with intent that it would stick. Nigeria’s dignity became collateral damage in his personal vendetta.
Yet today he seeks a diplomatic halo. Not through reflection but through hunger. Stomach infrastructure has long been an unofficial ministry in our politics and Mr Omokri has proved himself one of its most enthusiastic officers.
Supporters of the President now watch this moment with justified dismay. It suggests slander carries no consequence so long as the slanderer later smiles at the right corridor. It suggests loyalty is naïve and that betrayal is rewarded.
Ambassadors are custodians of national honour. To send a man who once painted the nation’s leader in the darkest ink is to parade contradiction on the global stage.
Every Google search will revive his insults. What coherent face can he present on behalf of Nigeria?
Public office must not become reward for whoever shouts the loudest before switching sides. Nigeria needs envoys who embody steadiness integrity and sincerity.
This nomination is not merely unwise. It is corrosive. It teaches the young that conviction is optional and opportunism is strategy. It erodes faith in public service.
If Nigeria is to reclaim moral direction this is a moment to draw a clear line. The Senate must guard the republic not personal ambition. We must not decorate inconsistency with diplomatic prestige.
Nigeria must choose dignity over drama principle over performance sincerity over convenience. Nigeria must rise above this theatre of moral confusion.
