Reno Omokri: Biography, career, family, controversies

Reno Omokri has become a prominent name in Nigeria’s political commentary and social media spaces. Whenever his name pops up, it is more or less associated with controversy – be it political opinions, interpretation of religious doctrines, relationship advice, security issues, or the thorny issue of the unity and survival of Nigeria as an indivisible political entity.

Omokri’s popularity has swelled following his stint in government, a development that has provided him with leverage to aggressively publicise his opinions notably. So, who is this political lackey who, more than not, always provides contentious takes on issues?

Biography

Reno Omokri was born on 22 January 1974 to the family of Justice Jean Omokri, who was a Justice of the Court of Appeal; and Helen Bemigho, who retired as a civil servant. Omokri hails from Warri, Delta State.

According to him, he attended schools in Nigeria before he proceeded to the United Kingdom to further his education. Omokri read law and was called to the Nigerian bar in 2000. He obtained a Master of Law (LL.M) from the University of Wolverhampton in 2004.

Career

Omokri’s career before his time in government

Although he is a trained lawyer, Omokri is better known professionally as an author, an activist, a cleric, and a political strategist.

Omokri served as the Vice President, Africa, at Joe Trippi and Associates, a U.S.-based political consulting firm, from August 2006 to April 2011. In this role, he helped to manage the political campaigns of several notable African politicians.

The Delta-born lawyer’s foray into Nigerian politics began in 2010 when he was part of the signatories to a letter by a group of eminent Nigerians (G 57) who called for the resignation of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. The President was evacuated out of the country on health emergency grounds and did not hand over power to his Vice President, Goodluck Jonathan. When Jonathan eventually became substantive President following Yar’Adua’s demise, Omokri led some Nigerians in Diaspora to endorse the former for the 2011 presidential election.

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Omokri’s time in government and major controversy

When Jonathan won the 2011 election, he appointed Omokri as his Special Assistant on New Media. By this appointment, he effectively became one of the spokespersons of the President. He consistently defended the Jonathan administration from the barrage of criticisms it faced and articulated the positions of the government on topical issues. He also actively utilised social media to publicise the developments and strides achieved by the administration and to conduct surveys to feel the pulse of Nigerians on the performance of his principal. He served in this role until 29 May 2015, when the Jonathan administration left Aso Rock following the defeat of his principal in the 2015 presidential election.

He was engulfed in numerous controversies while in government, but the highlight of them occurred in 2014 when he was accused of impersonating the identity of Wendell Simlin. Omokri had used Wendell Simlin as a moniker in penning a piece to attempt to link Lamido Sanusi, a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), to the terrorist group Boko Haram. However, the digital footprint of the article implicated Omokri as the author of the piece as its digital signature was identical to previous documents he had previously sent to media organisations.

It was further revealed that the real Wendell Simlin is a boy based in California. Deborah Campbell, who declared herself to be the mother of the boy, told a Nigerian media outlet that Omokri is family as she is married to his brother-in-law. Campbell, however, insisted that the presidential aide committed forgery by exploiting her son’s identity.

Omokri’s career after his time in government

After his time in government, Omokri returned to the pulpit. He is currently a Pastor at the Mind of Christ Christian Centre, located in the San Franciso Bay Area of California, the United States of America. He was the host of Transformations With Reno Omokri, a Christian teaching program broadcast on Comcast, DISH Network and Roku, from 2015 to 2016. He constantly uses his social media pages to preach the gospel, dispels some doctrines such as the prosperity gospel and provides advice to people on various issues, which he termed #RenosNuggets.

Although he is presently not in government, Omokri remains active in the political space. He identifies with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the main opposition party in Nigeria. He has been a vocal critic of the current All Progressives Congress (APC)-led administration, opposing their policies and their performance in government.

Since 2015, Omokri effectively went into self-exile, claiming that he will be persecuted by the APC government if he remained in the country. However, on 17 August 2017, Omokri claimed that the Department of State Services (DSS), Nigeria’s secret police, attempted to arrest him at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, but he was able to evade.

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As a political activist, Omokri has participated in several campaigns highlighting misgovernance, corruption and personal misfortune. Some of the campaigns/movements he has played a role in include:

• The Free Leah Sharibu movement, a campaign advocating for the freedom of Leah Sharibu, a Christian schoolgirl who was kidnapped by Boko Haram
• The #EndSARS movement
• #HarassBuhariOutOfNewYork; and
• #HarassBuhariOutOfLondon.

Omokri also has several books published to his credit. The books he has written are both religious and motivational.

Below is a list of some of them:

• Poverty Is A Choice
• Leah Sharibu: The Girl Boko Haram abandoned
• Shunpiking: No Shortcuts to God.
• Why Jesus Wept
• Apples of Gold (a book of Godly wisdom)
• Realities Versus Fiction: The True Story of the Jonathan Years, Chibok, 2015, and the Conspiracies
• Start Solving Problems

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Family

Omokri is married to Tuokpe Omokri and the couple has three children: Tosan and Misan (both boys), and Tsola (a girl).

However, The Will Nigeria, an online newspaper, accused Omokri in May 2021 of abandoning his wife and three children in California. According to the newspaper, he decided to move on with an Ethiopian woman, identified simply as Hanna, who got pregnant for him. Hanna gave birth to a girl and Omokri decided to name the child Ebele, in honour of ex-president Jonathan. Most Nigerians thought that Omokri’s wife gave birth to Ebele, but Tuokpe came out to clear the air and refuted claims that she is the girl’s daughter.

The revelation stunned many Nigerians as Omokri, who is known to preach sexual purity, allegedly abandoned his publicly known long-standing principles to assuage his feelings.

Despite the allegations recently regurgitated by David Hundeyin, an independent journalist, Omokiri has not publicly debunked or confirmed the news.

YouTube channel

Omokri owns a YouTube channel known as Renos Masterclass. He usually uploads videos to the channel to accentuate his political views. He also publishes video content through which he proffers business and financial advice, provides religious teachings, as well as showcases his family.

As of press time, Omokri’s channel has over 260,000 subscribers and has garnered 10,000,820 views.

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