The Ohanaeze Youth Council (OYC) has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to remove Reno Omokri from the list of ambassadorial nominees, accusing him of being untrustworthy.
In a statement released on Monday, the National President of the OYC, Igboayaka Igboayaka, strongly opposed Omokri’s nomination. He questioned how someone who had once openly criticized and distrusted the president could now be considered fit to represent Nigeria as an ambassador.
Igboayaka pointed to several Facebook posts made by Omokri in December 2022, including one where he called President Tinubu “a known drug lord, who belongs in jail, not Aso Rock.”
The OYC president said he was shocked that Omokri had passed background checks for such an important role. He suggested that this shows security agencies failed to properly investigate Omokri’s past.
“Clearing Reno Omokri by security agents for the ambassadorial post is an indication that his allegations against Bola Ahmed Tinubu are factual, because according to Reno, ‘Tinubu is a known drug lord,’” Igboayaka said.
He argued that giving Omokri the role of ambassador would amount to officially approving the harmful statements he once made about the president. He said it would be a serious contradiction to appoint someone who had made such accusations.
To back up their position, the OYC mentioned another Facebook post from December 17, 2022, in which Omokri claimed to have traveled to Chicago and gotten “verified documents” connected to the president’s alleged drug past.
In that same post, Omokri also said that if anyone could get a sample of Tinubu’s hair or urine, a lab could check if the president was still using drugs. This statement only added to the controversy.
Igboayaka then asked, “If Nigeria’s security agencies cleared Reno to represent Nigeria, does it imply that Reno’s allegations of a drug-related issue involving Tinubu have been substantiated?”
He called on the security agencies to protect their reputation by asking Omokri to present the “verified drug documents from Chicago” and share any information related to the alleged drug links with Nigerians.
According to Igboayaka, Omokri has clearly failed any test of integrity, since he once made serious and damaging claims about the president, only to later seek a position in his government.
He also criticized Omokri’s intentions, saying his comments were not based on protecting democracy, but were instead meant to serve his personal interests.
Igboayaka warned the presidency to think carefully about the consequences of giving such a role to a controversial person. He said appointing Omokri would only confirm what many Nigerians already think about the current administration.
“The presidency should know that clearing Reno Omokri implies and confirms the perception of Nigerians that the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration lacks integrity and credibility,” Igboayaka said.
