Reno Omokri, ambassador-designate to Mexico, has claimed that records of President Bola Tinubu held by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) do not indicate criminality.
Omokri spoke during the City Boy Movement (CBM) media one-on-one podcast with Otega Ogra, a senior special assistant to the president on digital and new media, and selected journalists.
The former presidential spokesperson said there is a difference between FBI criminal records and FBI records.
Omokri said FBI records could arise from several forms of contact with American institutions and should not automatically be perceived as evidence of a crime.
The ambassador-designate claimed that all US visa applicants have their records with the FBI, adding that all the presidential candidates also have records with the US agency.
“There is no criminal FBI record against President Bola Tinubu. There’s nothing like that,” he said.
“I’m going to say something which might probably shake the country. All of the candidates in this election have FBI records.
“A record is just a record. There’s a difference between a record and a criminal record.”
“The FBI has a mandate that if anybody applied for an American visa and background checks in the US, you have FBI records.
“There is a different between FBI records and FBI criminal records.”
Asked why Tinubu did not want the US agency to publish the records, Omokri said the FBI’s records contain details such as a person’s fingerprints, blood group, and eye scans.
“Your FBI record is not just a record of my name is Reno Omokri. Your FBI record is going to contain biometrics, meaning that your fingerprints, your eye scan,” he said.
“It’s going to contain details about your body. It’s going to contain details about your blood group. It’s going to contain details about your DNA — not in all cases. Details about your accounts and family.
“Who, here, will want that information out?”
Omokri said those demanding that Tinubu’s records be made public should be prepared to apply the same standard to themselves.
Omokri’s comments come in the wake of a court case in the US concerning the requests for FBI investigation records on Tinubu from 1992 to 1993.
