Nigeria’s ambassador-designate to Mexico, Reno Omokri, has said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was not the subject of an FBI investigation, despite the existence of a United States law-enforcement investigation involving individuals connected to him.
Omokri made the clarification on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Sunday, as controversy continues to surround US law-enforcement records linked to the Nigerian President and efforts to obtain additional documents relating to the matter.
“There was an investigation. Bola Ahmed Tinubu was not the subject of that investigation,” Omokri said.
According to the ambassador-designate, Tinubu was working as an accountant at the time and was holding funds belonging to clients who had come under investigation by American authorities.
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Omokri explained that the funds were subsequently forfeited after US authorities identified them as suspicious.
He stressed that the forfeiture concerned the accounts in which the funds were held and was not a forfeiture involving Tinubu personally.
“The President was an accountant, and then the President had client funds. Those persons had been indicted by the FBI, and as a result of that, it said that certain funds… are suspicious funds,” he said.
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“And then when it was brought to the attention of the President, the President agreed for a forfeiture. Now, it was to the accounts, not the President.”
Omokri also cited a 2003 FBI document which, according to him, contained the outcome of checks carried out on Tinubu.
He claimed the document indicated that there was no criminal arrest record or outstanding warrant against the President.
The ambassador-designate, however, maintained that the existence of an FBI investigation involving people associated with Tinubu should not be interpreted as evidence that Tinubu himself was the subject of the investigation.
“There was an investigation. Bola Ahmed Tinubu was not the subject of that investigation,” he reiterated.
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Omokri declined to reveal the identities of the individuals who were investigated, saying that doing so could expose their families to unnecessary consequences.
He also refrained from providing further details about the records at the centre of the controversy, citing an ongoing court case.
The controversy centres on US law-enforcement records being sought through Freedom of Information Act proceedings. Hundreds of pages have reportedly been identified in connection with the case, while some records have either been redacted or withheld.
Defending the decision to restrict access to some of the material, Omokri argued that releasing sensitive records could expose private information, including biometric, familial and financial details.
“You don’t want those records in the hands of your enemies,” he said.
His comments come amid renewed public debate in Nigeria over the nature of the US records and what they may reveal about events involving Tinubu and individuals associated with him.
