Reno Omokri: Only Obasanjo, Tinubu Ever Reduced Nigeria’s Debt Stock

Author and staunch supporter of the Bola Tinubu administration, Reno Omokri, has disputed an assertion by the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general elections, Peter Obi, that the current government has borrowed more money compared to all its predecessors.

In a statement Omokri argued that Tinubu has actually reduced Nigeria’s national debt from $108.2 billion on May 29, 2023, to $94.2 billion today. 

“President Bola Tinubu is rather too lenient. If he does not make a scapegoat out of fake news peddlers, they will eventually do irreparable damage to Nigeria’s economy, Omokri wrote.

Omokri argued that if not because Tinubu is lenient, the remarks should have led to Obi’s prosecution for alleged cybercrimes and economic sabotage. 

He urged Obi to verify the debt data from the Debt Management Office’s website or the International Monetary Fund (IMF) website. 

“In Nigeria’s history, only two civilian governments have been able to reduce the nation’s indebtedness: the Obasanjo administration and now the Tinubu government.  This is not the first time Peter Obi has told such monumental Goebbelsian lies targeted at destroying Nigeria’s image,” he argued.

According to Omokri, Obi had to apologise for a previous public comment that the National grid had collapsed, when, in fact, it had not collapsed, and was instead experiencing increased capacity.

He listed the others as Obi allegedly saying that Tanzania had produced so much energy that it had met all its power needs and had to shut down its dams. 

“Tanzania shut its dams after Cyclone Hidaya flooded its major dams. At the time, Peter Obi was spreading lies that they had met their power needs, when in reality, Tanzania was facing nationwide power blackouts”, he stated.

He recalled that in 2024, Obi said that it was a national disgrace for Nigeria to receive wheat donations from Ukraine, but failed to tell Nigerians that Egypt, a country he visited, praised, and urged Nigeria to learn from, also received grain donations from Ukraine. It is more dependent on Ukraine for its wheat than Nigeria. 

Omokri listed other alleged instances as: when Obi allegedly said that a subsisting court judgment ordered the release of Nnamdi Kanu, and President Tinubu refused to obey it;  his alleged ‘I studied marketing at Harvard’ remark and the claim that he loves Muslims.

He also picked holes in Obi’s alleged January 14, comments that  Tinubu paid for 1411 people to attend #COP28 with government money. “The truth is that only 422 of Nigeria’s delegates were publicly funded, and not all of those publicly funded were financed by the Presidency,” he stated.

“Peter Obi next criticised the National Assembly for buying 400 SUVs and said he would have used the money better. Actually, Peter Obi had purchased 400 SUVs for Anambra Igwes when he was governor. 

“He thereafter posted on social media that the timing of the Lagos demolitions to prevent flooding was wrong. Yet Peter Obi personally led a demolition team to demolish illegal structures as Anambra Governor. Additionally, he said nothing when Governor (Charles) Soludo demolished structures in Anambra simultaneously as Lagos. 

“The point in listing all these lies is to show the federal government that they are not just harmless lies, but are an act of psychological warfare, which negatively affect our national security and economy. 

“Therefore, I call on the Attorney General of the Federation to use his office to prosecute Mr. Peter Obi for his cybercrimes, which would deter any other disgruntled politician who may want to tread that path,” Omokri stated.