By Adesina Soyooye
An Ambassador-designate, Reno Omokri, has admitted that he called President Bola Tinubu a drug dealer, but added that on finding out the truth, he publicly withdrew what he said.
Omokri was reacting to what happened at a Federal High Court Abuja on Tuesday during the prosecution of Omoleye Sowore by the Department of State Services,DSS, for calling President Tinubu a criminal.
His Lawyer, Marshal Abubakar, had asked the DSS prosecutor, Cyril Nosike, why Sowore is being prosecuted by the DSS while the same DSS cleared Omokri who had painted Tinubu in worse colours than Sowore for appointment as an Ambassador.
Trouble started when Sowore Abubakar pulled a surprise by presenting a video footage which showed Omokri making damaging statements against Tinubu on national television. No legal action was taken against Omokri. So, why Sowore?, Abubakar asked.
One of the clips showed Omokri, in 2023, when during a 2023 ARISE News interview claimed he was in possession of court documents from the United States of America, allegedly linked the President to drug-related offences.
His words: “Bola Tinubu is a known drug lord. I have documents to prove it.”
In another clip Omokri emphasized he would never align politically with Tinubu.
Sowere’s Lawyer, Abubakar used that as a peg to question why the DSS later cleared Omokri for an ambassadorial appointment despite those statements, while Sowore is facing prosecution for calling the President a “criminal” online.
The DSS witness had no respond for that. He said he could not explain that.
But Omokri, in a statement on Wednesday, admitted that truly, he called then candidate Tinubu a drug baron but that he publicly withdrew the allegation. Therefore, he said, Sowore cannot use a statement he had publicly withdrawn as an excuse in his own case.
His words: “With regards to the claims made by Mr Omoyele Sowore and his Counsel, Mr Abubakar Marshal, in Court on Tuesday, January 27, 2026, I do freely admit that I did make uncomplimentary remarks about the then Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress while believing those comments to be true at the time I uttered them.
“Subsequent to making those statements, I discovered that they were not, in fact, true, and I publicly withdrew them in writing and on video at various times and through multiple platforms.”
Omokri has since become Tinubu’s number one admirer and defender.
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