Former presidential aide Reno Omokri has publicly retracted his previous description of President Bola Tinubu as a “drug lord,” stating that his independent investigation in the United States found no evidence to support the allegation.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, Mr Omokri revealed that he traveled to Chicago in September 2022 to verify reports about Mr Tinubu’s academic history and alleged drug links. He arrived on 18 September and visited Chicago State University the next day, where officials provided documentary evidence, photographic evidence, and newspaper clippings confirming that Mr Tinubu attended the institution.
“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. He also examined US records, which showed no criminal arrest record or outstanding warrant against Mr Tinubu from a 2003 check.
Mr Omokri clarified that while there was an investigation referenced in US records, Mr Tinubu was not its subject. He noted that the controversy partly stems from a 1993 US civil forfeiture proceeding involving about $460,000 linked to accounts associated with Mr Tinubu, but stressed it was a civil forfeiture case, not a criminal conviction.
Mr Omokri has since become a supporter of the Tinubu administration and was nominated as Nigeria’s ambassador-designate to Mexico.