Former presidential aide, Reno Omokri, has dismissed reports claiming that the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released criminal records concerning President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to a U.S. court.
Omokri described the reports as misleading, arguing that the existence of FBI records containing Tinubu’s name does not automatically mean the records are criminal in nature.
In a statement shared on his social media platforms on Monday, Omokri said claims that the FBI had released Tinubu’s “criminal records” to U.S. District Judge Howell Beryl of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia were being promoted by the President’s political opponents.
“These claims are untrue, and these individuals and their surrogates are using clever semantics to deceive the public,” he said.
Omokri, who is the Ambassador Designate to Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua, said he travelled to Chicago, Illinois, between September 18 and 20, 2022, to investigate allegations surrounding Tinubu’s records and described the claims he encountered as unfounded.
“President Bola Tinubu has no criminal record in the United States, Nigeria, or anywhere else, and the FBI has not provided any criminal record on the President to anyone because none exists,” he claimed.
He explained that while FBI databases may contain information relating to Tinubu, such records should not automatically be interpreted as evidence of criminal activity.
According to him, the FBI maintains extensive databases containing both criminal and non-criminal information relating to American citizens, residents and foreign nationals.
Omokri noted that the FBI also conducts background checks for some U.S. government agencies, including the Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security, as part of immigration and visa-related processes.
He argued that an individual’s name appearing in an FBI database could generate records without implying criminal conduct.
“Thus, as a US citizen or resident, or even as a foreign national, if your name is run through the FBI databases, it is likely to bring up hundreds of pages of records. This does not mean that the records are criminal. In most cases, they will be benign,” he said.
Omokri further stated that such records could include personal details such as biometric and biographical information, questioning whether private information should be made public for political purposes.
On the specific issue of alleged criminal records involving Tinubu, Omokri referred to a 2003 correspondence between Nigerian authorities and the U.S. Embassy.
He said that on February 3, 2003, the then Inspector-General of Police, Tafa Balogun, wrote to the U.S. Embassy requesting information on whether the FBI had criminal records concerning Tinubu, who was then governor of Lagos State.
According to Omokri, the embassy responded the following day and provided what he described as confirmation that there were no criminal records involving Tinubu.
He said the correspondence aligned with findings from his 2022 visit to Chicago, where he claimed to have investigated Tinubu’s academic and other records.
Omokri urged Nigerians who questioned the authenticity of the document to seek clarification from the U.S. Embassy in Abuja or Lagos.
