Senate Must Reject Reno Omokri’s Nomination As Ambassador – Denge Onoh

Reno Omokri

Chairman of the forum of former members of Enugu State House of Assembly and former South-East spokesman to President Bola Tinubu, Denge Onoh, has urged the Senate to reject Reno Omokri’s ambassadorial nomination. He recently appealed to the Senate to decline to clear Reno Omokri for any ambassadorial posting.

In a press statement made available to journalists in Abuja on Tuesday, Onoh revealed that his objection is not personal.

According to him, Reno Omokri’s ambassadorial nomination must be turned down because of the huge implications any confirmation would have on Nigeria’s sovereignty, international reputation and the dignity of the Nigerian people.

He stated that Omokri does not deserve any ambassadorial role because he has consistently labelled Tinubu a drug baron and a cocaine trafficker.

“For many years, Mr. Reno Omokri, using various pseudonyms including ‘Freeze’ and operating from exile in the United States and elsewhere, repeatedly and publicly labelled the sitting President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a ‘drug baron’ and ‘cocaine trafficker.’ These allegations were amplified globally through books, articles, social media posts, and interviews on international platforms. Mr. Omokri presented himself as a moral crusader against the very individual he now seeks to represent as an accredited envoy.

Should the Senate clear Mr. Omokri and the President subsequently issues him Letters of Credence in the standard diplomatic format, the Government of Nigeria will, by its own hand, validate and institutionalise the very allegations Mr. Omokri spent years promoting. The Letters of Credence, signed by the President and countersigned by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, will contain language that effectively declares: that His Excellency Bola Ahmed Tinubu is the legitimate President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; that Mr. Reno Omokri enjoys the full trust and confidence of the President; that Mr. Omokri is empowered to speak and act on behalf of the President and the Federal Republic in all matters.

By accepting such a letter and presenting it to a foreign Head of State, Mr. Omokri would be asking the international community to believe that a man he once described as a ‘drug baron’ has now reposed ‘full trust and confidence’ in him as his personal representative. This is not merely ironic; it is an official, state-sanctioned endorsement of the narrative that Nigeria is led by individuals involved in narcotics trafficking—a narrative that will be sealed with the Great Seal of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” it read.

Denge Onoh further noted that the damage to Nigeria’s reputation would be massive if Reno’s nomination were to be accepted.

He concluded by saying that elevating Tinubu’s accuser to the highest diplomatic rank will only prove that Nigeria agrees with his accusations.

“Foreign governments and intelligence agencies already on record with Mr. Omokri’s past allegations will have documentary proof that Nigeria itself acknowledges the substance of those claims by elevating the accuser to its highest diplomatic rank.

Nigerians abroad will face intensified profiling, visa denials, and discriminatory treatment as host nations cite Nigeria’s own diplomatic instrument as evidence of institutional criminality at the highest levels.

Investor confidence, already fragile, will suffer another devastating blow. No nation recovers quickly from self-inflicted wounds of this magnitude. It will take years—if not decades—to rebuild the trust and respect here so casually jeopardised.

The Senate, as the guardian of our national interest and the final bulwark against executive overreach, has a historic duty to halt this dangerous precedent. Confirming Mr. Reno Omokri would not be an act of reconciliation; it would be an act of national self-sabotage.

I, therefore, respectfully and firmly call on the Distinguished Senate to reject the nomination of Mr. Reno Omokri and to save Nigeria from irreparable harm to her image, her sovereignty, and the welfare of her citizens at home and abroad.

Nigeria deserves ambassadors who command respect, not those whose very appointment mocks the dignity of the office and the country they are sent to represent,” it added.