ABUJA – In a dramatic turn at the Federal High Court on Tuesday, ambassador-designate Reno Omokri formally admitted that previous uncomplimentary remarks he made against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu were based on false information.
The admission follows the cross-examination of a Department of State Services (DSS) witness in the ongoing cybercrime trial of activist Omoyele Sowore. Sowore’s counsel, Abubakar Marshal, had tendered video evidence of Omokri’s 2023 interviews where he labeled the then-APC candidate a “drug lord”.
In a statement released Wednesday, Omokri clarified that he has since discovered those claims were “fallacious” and had publicly withdrawn them through multiple platforms.
“I do freely admit that I did make uncomplimentary remarks about the then-presidential candidate… believing those comments to be true at the time I uttered them,” Omokri stated. “Subsequent to making those statements, I discovered they were not, in fact, true”.
Omokri highlighted that his stance changed following the October 2023 Supreme Court judgment, which cleared the President of any criminal convictions. He further disclosed that he flew from California to Nigeria on October 1, 2024, to personally apologize to the President.
The former presidential aide argued that Sowore cannot legally rely on withdrawn statements as a defense for later publications.
