Former presidential aide and ambassador-designate, Reno Omokri, has admitted that he was wrong to have described President Bola Tinubu as a “drug lord”, saying his investigations in the United States found no evidence to support the claim.
Mr Omokri said he travelled to Chicago in September 2022 to independently verify reports about Mr Tinubu’s academic history and alleged links to drug-related activities.
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He spoke on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics on Sunday.
Mr Omokri said he initially believed reports that questioned Mr Tinubu’s academic credentials and alleged that he was involved in drug trafficking.
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“I honestly believed what the media reported. Like most Nigerians, probably you who believe me, but I did something that no other Nigerian did. I went to Chicago,” he said.
According to him, he arrived in Chicago on 18 September 2022 and visited Chicago State University the following day.
He said the university provided him with documentary and photographic evidence, as well as newspaper clippings, confirming that Mr Tinubu attended the institution.
“They gave me documentary evidence, photographic evidence, newspaper clippings, and then they have a hall where the president is there because the president is an alumnus,” he said.
Mr Omokri said the findings forced him to publicly change his position, despite the political consequences.
“Right there in Chicago, I came out, even though it was against my own political best interest, and I said, Look, it is not true,” he said.
The ambassador-designate said he also examined US records relating to Mr Tinubu and said a 2003 check found no criminal arrest record or outstanding warrant against the president.
“The results of the checks were negative for any criminal arrest records, once, or warrant, for Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” he said.
Mr Omokri further argued that Mr Tinubu was not the subject of the underlying investigation referenced in the US records.
“There was an investigation. Bola Ahmed Tinubu was not the subject of the investigation. The president was not the person that was being investigated,” he said, adding that the controversy centres partly on a 1993 US civil forfeiture proceeding involving about $460,000 linked to accounts associated with Mr Tinubu.
“The money was forfeited to the US government in a case connected to a wider investigation into heroin trafficking. The proceeding was a civil forfeiture case rather than a criminal conviction of Mr Tinubu.”
Mr Omokri said the records could be deployed by political opponents during the 2027 campaign, despite his withdrawal of the “drug lord” allegation.
His comments come after his earlier public attacks on Mr Tinubu resurfaced during the trial of activist Omoyele Sowore.
In January, the Federal High Court in Abuja admitted a video in which Mr Omokri had described Mr Tinubu as a “drug lord” and claimed to possess documents supporting the allegation.
Mr Omokri has since become a supporter of the Tinubu administration and was nominated as Nigeria’s ambassador-designate to Mexico.
READ ALSO: Why Sowore can’t rely on my past remark calling Tinubu ‘drug lord’ – Reno Omokri
On Peter Obi
Mr Omokri also discussed his investigation into allegations linking Peter Obi, a leading opposition politician, to drug trafficking.
He said he travelled to Peru after similar allegations were made against Mr Obi and interviewed officials there to establish whether the claims were true.
“I went to Peru. When, if you remember, they accused Peter Obi of also being a drug lord. I went. I interviewed the Peruvian officials and I said, you know, Peter Obi is innocent. There’s nothing there,” he said.
Mr Omokri had previously said his 2022 trip to Peru found no evidence supporting allegations that Mr Obi was involved in drug trafficking.
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