By Abiola Olawale
Former presidential aide Reno Omokri has fired back at activist Omoyele Sowore, for using what he described as “withdrawn” statements as a shield in his ongoing legal battles with the Department of State Services (DSS).
The exchange follows a dramatic court session on Tuesday, January 27, 2026, where Sowore’s legal team questioned why their client is being prosecuted for cyberstalking while Omokri—who once made similar disparaging remarks about President Bola Tinubu—was recently cleared for an ambassadorial role.
During the proceedings at the Federal High Court in Abuja, Sowore’s counsel, Abubakar Marshal, confronted the DSS witness, Cyril Nosike, over what he described as a double standard.
The defense argued that Omokri had previously labeled then-candidate Tinubu a “drug lord” on national television, yet faced no prosecution.
Although the prosecution counsel, Mr Akinlolu Kehinde, objected to the admissibility of the exhibits, the trial judge, Justice Mohammed Umar, overruled the objection and admitted them in evidence.
Reacting via a statement made available to the press on Wednesday, Omokri dismissed the comparison as logically flawed. While admitting he made “uncomplimentary remarks” in the past, he emphasized that his subsequent discovery of the facts led to a public retraction.
“With regard to the claims made by Mr Omoyele Sowore and his counsel, Mr Abubakar Marshal, in court on Tuesday, January 27, 2026, 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,” he said.
He added, “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.”
Omokri stated that he affirmed Tinubu as President on May 29, 2023, the day he was sworn in, and urged Nigerians to move forward.
“On the day that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu was sworn in as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria… I released a statement affirming him as President of Nigeria and urging members of the public to put the past behind them and give him their full support,” he said.
He noted that he reiterated the position on October 26, 2023, after the Supreme Court dismissed petitions challenging Tinubu’s election.
“In that judgment, the honourable court declared that there were no criminal charges or convictions against the President,” Omokri stated.
He said he accepted the ruling and changed his position on his earlier claims.
“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 later granted interviews to TVC, News Central Television, and Channels Television’s Politics Today, where he publicly apologised.
“I admitted to the Nigerian public and the world at large during a live broadcast that I was wrong about those statements I made about the then-candidate,” he said.
He also disclosed that he apologised to Tinubu privately in October 2024.
“I flew into Nigeria from my home in California, and apologised to him in person, prostrating flat on the ground,” Omokri stated.
Addressing the legal argument raised in court, Omokri said Sowore could not rely on statements he had withdrawn years earlier to defend later publications.
“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.
“I again affirm today… that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is not, has never been, and will never be a drug lord.
“I make these statements voluntarily, freely, and of my own volition… and I am fully prepared to testify to the above under oath in court,” he added.
