Reno Omokri Shares Record-Document on Tinubu vs FBI in US
- TAmbassador Reno Omokri pushed back against media reports claiming the FBI submitted criminal records on Tinubu to a US judge
- Omokri said he travelled to Chicago in September 2022 to personally investigate claims about Tinubu's records in the United States
- A 2003 letter from the US Embassy was cited as evidence that the FBI gave Tinubu a clean bill regarding any criminal records
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Ambassador-designate Reno Omokri has denied claims circulating in Nigerian media that the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) possesses criminal records on President Bola Tinubu, describing the reports as misleading and politically motivated.
Omokri, who is Nigeria's Ambassador-designate to Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua, said recent headlines asserting that the FBI had handed over Tinubu's criminal files to US District Judge Howell Beryl of the District of Columbia are false. He said the President's political opponents have amplified the claims to deceive the public through "clever semantics."
Source: Twitter
What Omokri found in Chicago
To investigate the matter himself, Omokri said he travelled to Chicago, Illinois between September 18 and 20, 2022, at a time when he was still a member of the opposition, to examine claims about then-presidential candidate Tinubu's academic and other records in the United States. His conclusion was that the claims were baseless.
He acknowledged that FBI databases may contain entries under Tinubu's name, but argued this is not the same as holding criminal records. According to Omokri, the FBI routinely keeps non-criminal files on millions of people, including foreign nationals, through its Central Records System and Next Generation Identification database. Anyone who has ever applied for a US visa, he said, likely has an FBI file as a result of mandatory background checks the bureau carries out on behalf of the Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security.
Such files can contain fingerprints, DNA, bank statements, and other biographical or biometric data, none of which constitutes a criminal record.
The 2003 US Embassy letter
On the specific question of criminal records, Omokri pointed to a communication dating back to Monday, February 3, 2003, when the then Inspector General of Police, Tafa Balogun, wrote to the US Embassy seeking FBI information on Bola Tinubu, who was then serving as Governor of Lagos. Omokri said the Embassy responded the following day and gave Tinubu a clear outcome, finding no criminal records tied to his name.
Omokri said this finding was consistent with what he uncovered during his 2022 visit to Chicago, and urged members of the public who doubt the letter's authenticity to contact the US Embassy directly. He provided the Embassy's consular email address in Abuja, ConsularAbuja@state.gov, as a point of contact for verification.
"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 added that while FBI records may carry Tinubu's name, such records are not criminal in nature, and releasing private biographical or financial data to political opponents would be an invasion of any individual's privacy.
See the document shared by Reno Omokri on X here:
Tinubu tells US court to block FBI
Legit.ng earlier reported that President Bola Tinubu filed a response in a US district court arguing that records sought by a researcher are protected under US privacy law.
The case stems from FOIA requests filed by Aaron Greenspan seeking FBI and DEA files linked to a Chicago drug-involvement investigation from the early 1990s.
Tinubu's lawyers argued that personal curiosity about a foreign leader does not meet the legal threshold for public interest under FOIA.
Source: Legit.ng
