I apologised, prostrated for Tinubu over uncomplimentary remarks – Omokri

By Ayorinde Oluokun/Abuja

Former presidential spokesperson, Omoyele Sowore said he had in writing and on video at various times and through multiple platforms withdrew and apologised for every uncomplimentary remarks he had made in the past about President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

The former presidential aide said he had on October 1, 2024 flew into Nigeria from California to meet Tinubu during which he apologised to him in person, “prostrating flat on the ground,”

Omokri said he had told the President at the time that he was misled by publications in the media into making the uncomplimentary remarks and that his actions were not malicious,

He revealed this while reacting to the use of one of his past uncomplimentary remarks against Tinubu as evidence by the defence counsel, Mr Abubakar Marshal, in the trial of activist, Omoyele Sowore by the Department of State Services, DSS in court on Monday.

The DSS, had arraigned Sowore in court for allegedly calling President Tinubu a criminal.

But while agreeing that he indeed made the complimentary remarks about Tinubu as the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, which he believed to be true at the time at the time he uttered them.

But Omokri said he has since discovered that the statements were not true.

Subsequently, the Ambassador designate said he has publicly withdrew the statements in writing and on video at various times and through multiple platforms.

He also said he had released a statement affirming his support for President Tinubu on the day he was sworn in through statement in which he also urged members of the public to put the past behind them and give him their full support.

He also said he repeated this stance and public call on Thursday, October 26, 2023 when the Supreme Court of Nigeria ruled in favour of the President, after dismissing the petitions against him brought by Alhaji Waziri Atiku Abubakar, and Mr Peter Obi, amongst others.

Omokri noted that the Supreme Court had in the judgment, declared that there were no criminal charges or convictions against the President.

He added that the Supreme Court clarified what had happened in the past, which had been misrepresented by some media.

On the same day the judgement was rendered, I accepted it, applauded it, and stated that, based on that verdict, my stance on the statements I had made against the President had changed: not only was it wrong, but I fully believed it was fallacious.

“Two days thereafter, on Saturday, October 28, 2023, I gave an interview to TVC, in which I affirmed the Supreme Court’s judgement and declared it a righteous verdict and that their Lord Justices did a good job and followed the letter and spirit of the law,” said the former presidential aide.

He also said he arranged to be interviewed on Newscentral Television on Thursday, March 27, 2025, where I said that the President had been “exonerated”, When members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP which he was then aligned, continued to dwell on the unfounded allegations.

He said he had at that occasion used the word exonerated “intentionally, as I have a Master’s in Law from the United Kingdom, and understood and wanted to project and confirm to the Nigerian public that a constitutionally recognised official body had absolved the President of any wrongdoing, which is the legal meaning of that word.

“Following this, I went on the most watched talk show in Nigeria, Politics Today, on Wednesday, June 11, 2025, where I admitted to the Nigerian public and the world at large during a live broadcast that I was wrong about those statements I made about the then candidate, and that I relied on false publications in the media in making them, and that having gotten accurate judicial pronouncements that exonerated the President and established beyond any reasonable doubt that the information I had erroneously believed, chiefly from Mr Omoyele Sowore’s platform, Saharareporters, and from the mouth of Mr Sowore himself, was false, I withdrew those statements and apologised for them.