Tinubu not a drug lord… Sowore can’t use my withdrawn claim as defence – Omokri

Reno Omokri, ambassador-designate, says Omoyele Sowore, publisher of Sahara Reporters, cannot rely on past remarks he (Omokri) made about President Bola Tinubu as defence in his ongoing cybercrime trial.

Sowore is standing trial on a two-count charge preferred against him by the Department of State Services (DSS).

The charge stems from Sowore’s August 25 post on X, in which he described Tinubu as a “criminal” while reacting to the president’s remarks on corruption during a trip to Brazil.

At the court session on Tuesday, Marshal Abubakar, Sowore’s counsel, tendered video evidence during cross-examination of the first prosecution witness.

Among the exhibits the defence lawyer tendered was a flash drive containing a raft of video clips featuring Omokri.

When the videos were played in open court, one showed Omokri in a 2023 interview on ARISE TV, where he stated that he had documentary evidence to support his claim that President Tinubu was a “drug lord”.

“Drug lord is not an unprintable name. Bola Tinubu is a known drug lord. I’ve got documents to back it up. I spent my money, went to Chicago, went to court, and got certified true copies. Bola Tinubu is a drug lord,” Omokri was heard saying in the video.

Another clip showed Omokri declaring that he would never work with Tinubu.

However, reacting in a statement, Omokri said he made those statements between 2022 and 2023, believing them to be true at the time.

“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,” Omokri said.

“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.”

He noted that he had erroneously believed the “false claims” about the president, “…chiefly from Mr Omoyele Sowore’s platform, Saharareporters, and from the mouth of Mr Sowore himself…”

Omokri said he first publicly affirmed Tinubu as president on May 29, 2023, the day he was sworn in, urging Nigerians to “put the past behind them and give him their full support”.

He said he reiterated that position after the supreme court dismissed the petitions challenging Tinubu’s election.

According to Omokri, the apex court judgment clarified issues that had been “misrepresented by some media” and confirmed that there were no criminal charges or convictions against the president.

“On the same day the judgment was rendered, I accepted it, applauded it, and stated that, based on that verdict, my stance on the statements I had made against the President had changed: not only was it wrong, but I fully believed it was fallacious,” he said.

Omokri said he also affirmed the supreme court’s decision during interviews on TVC, News Central Television, and Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’.

He added that he apologised to Tinubu privately on October 1, 2024, after flying into Nigeria from the United States.

“I apologised to him in person, prostrating flat on the ground, before stating that I was misled by publications in the media into making those statements,” he said.

On the legal implications, Omokri argued that it is improper for Sowore to rely on statements that had been withdrawn.

“In law, it is ultra vires, and well established by the rule against hearsay, to use previous statements made at a time when it was believed to be true to establish the veracity of a claim you yourself caused to be published,” he said.

Quoting Phipson on Evidence, Omokri said: “Former oral or written statements by any person… may not be given in evidence if the purpose is to tender them as evidence of the truth of the matters asserted.

“Therefore, Mr Sowore cannot rely on statements I made between 2022 and 2023, and then publicly withdrew in 2023, as a defence for statements he made in August 2025,” he added.

“I again affirm today… that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is not, has never been, and will never be a drug lord.”

The ambassador-designate said he is prepared to testify under oath and tender documentary evidence to support his claims. (The Cable)