Tinubu has no FBI criminal records, or anywhere, Reno Omokri

Reno Omokri, Nigeria’s Ambassador-Designate to Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua, has stated that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has no criminal record in the United States, Nigeria or any other country.

Speaking in a video interview addressing questions about the president, and claims by some critics, Omokri rejected claims that the FBI had released criminal records on Tinubu.

“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,” Omokri said.

He stressed that the presence of a name in FBI records does not equate to a criminal history. “Yes, FBI records may contain his name, but they are NOT criminal records,” he declared.

Omokri explained that the FBI maintains extensive non-criminal files on American citizens, residents and foreign nationals through its Central Records Systems and Next Generation Identification database. He noted that routine processes such as U.S. visa applications trigger mandatory background screenings that generate records.

He however added that the non-criminal record of Tinubu in FBI’S system puts to rest any doubt about the true age of President Tinubu as it states the real date of birth of the president.

According to him, “notice that the FBI records has President Tinubu’s” date of birth and it destroys any argument trying to say the president is 90 years old.”

Also, in setting the records straight, Omokri said what critics are referring to a 2026 case against Tinubu is the freedom of information Act report filed by American activist, Aaron Greenspan against US agencies like the FBI and DEA to release information on some people.

“It’s not like there is a new case; there is no case. This is a 1993 investigation and the target of the investigation was not President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. There were several other people and in the course of the investigation, he was mentioned.”

Reading from the FBI’s document which he has, Ambassador Omokri said, “this is what it says here: there is no criminal arrest records once or warrants.”

“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,” Omokri said.

He added that such files may contain personal biometric, biographical and financial information, including fingerprints, DNA and bank statements. Omokri questioned whether any individual would want private, non-criminal records released to political opponents.

The ambassador-designate referenced a 2003 exchange in which then Inspector-General of Police Tafa Balogun wrote to the U.S. Embassy seeking information on any FBI criminal records involving Tinubu, who was then Governor of Lagos State. The embassy replied the following day giving what Omokri described as “the all clear.”

“This was consistent with my findings when I visited Chicago in 2022, as a member of the opposition, to establish the truth about then-Presidential candidate Bola Tinubu’s academic and other records,” he said.

Omokri further stated that all the major presidential candidates in the last election cycle, including Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, have FBI records, and that those records are not necessarily criminal. He urged the public to distinguish between the existence of government files and evidence of criminal conduct.

He invited anyone doubting the authenticity of the 2003 U.S. Embassy response to contact the embassy in Abuja via ConsularAbuja@state.gov for verification.