Former presidential aide, Reno Omokri, has defended President Bola Tinubu’s opposition to the release of his records held by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), insisting that the existence of FBI files on an individual does not necessarily indicate criminal activity.
In a statement released on X on Monday, Omokri said the FBI could hold extensive records on individuals for non-criminal reasons, including visa applications and background checks conducted on behalf of the US Department of State and Department of Homeland Security.
“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. “Yes, FBI records may contain his name, but they are NOT criminal records.”
Omokri explained that background checks could generate substantial files on foreign nationals without implying wrongdoing.
“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,” he said.
“This does not mean that the records are criminal. In most cases, they will be benign,” he added, arguing that such files could contain sensitive personal information, including fingerprints, DNA, bank statements and other private records.
The former presidential aide also questioned whether such personal information should be made public simply because the individual involved is a political figure.
“Would you, as an individual, want your private records released to your political opponents, even if they were non-criminal?” he asked.
Omokri further claimed that US authorities had previously cleared Tinubu of criminal wrongdoing, citing correspondence he said was exchanged between the US Embassy and Nigeria’s then Inspector-General of Police, Tafa Balogun, in February 2003. He said the embassy responded to an inquiry about Tinubu, who was then governor of Lagos State, with what he described as an “all clear” regarding criminal records.
“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,” Omokri said.
Meanwhile, Tinubu’s lawyers have opposed the release of the records, arguing that the US Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act protect them from disclosure. The lawyers also described the request as politically motivated and argued that there was no public interest recognised under US law sufficient to justify releasing the information.
The controversy followed a FOIA request by American transparency activist Aaron Greenspan seeking records relating to Tinubu. The FBI has invoked several exemptions in resisting the release of portions of the records, including provisions relating to privacy, confidential sources, investigative techniques and individual safety.
The issue dates back to the 1990s, including a 1993 US civil forfeiture proceeding involving $460,000 linked to Tinubu, which the All Progressives Congress has maintained was not a criminal conviction
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