Former presidential aide, Reno Omokri, has endorsed President Bola Tinubu for a second term in office, just as he urged his supporters to line behind the President’s Renewed Hope Agenda “so we can unite as one nation under God to make Nigeria great again.”
Giving reasons for the declaration, Omokri said Tinubu has reduced Nigeria’s total debt from the $108.2 billion he inherited from the Buhari administration on May 29, 2023, to $94.2 billion today.
He also praised the President for paying off Nigeria’s debt to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
He also cited a revelation by the World Bank, through its lead economist for Nigeria, Alex Sienaert, that Nigeria’s economy grew by 4.6 per cent year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2024 and pointed to continued expansion in early 2025 based on high-frequency business indicators.
“Also, in the third quarter of 2024, Nigeria recorded a record-breaking trade surplus of ₦5.81 trillion, the absolute highest in our history. A surge in non-oil exports drove this surplus. Our exports were at N20.5 trillion and imports at ₦14.7 trillion,” Omokri said in a statement on Friday.
He pointed out that the last two years under Tinubu marked the first time since the Shagari administration that the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) had not had an industrial action, and academic calendars in Nigerian universities had gone on uninterrupted.
He also highlighted that a total of ₦32.8 billion had been awarded in student loans to an unprecedented approximately 200,000 students, a first in Nigeria.
“This is happening as both the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project and the Sokoto-Badagry Express Way Project, along with the East-West Road and the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Highway, are simultaneously going on at full throttle.
‘Just as capital inflow into Nigeria soared by 66.27 per cent under this administration,” he said.
Turning to security, Omokri said Tinubu’s performance in the sector surpassed that of his predecessor, stressing that throughout the eighth years of former President Muhammadu Buhari, not a single bandit leader was arrested, killed or convicted.
“But under the Tinubu administration, more tha 14 notoriously murderous bandit leaders have been killed,” he said.
He listed the bandits to include Kachalla Ali Kawaje, Kachalla Halilu Sububu, Kachalla Damina, Kachalla Dangote, Kachalla Jafaru, Kachalla Barume, Kachalla Shehu, Tsoho, Kachalla Yellow Mai Buhu, Yellow Sirajo, Kachalla Dan Muhammadu, Kachalla Makasko, Yellow Hassan, Boderi, Kachalla Dan Ba Birki and Auta Dan Mai Jan Kai.
He said as a result of their death, peace had returned to Kaduna and its neighbouring states.
“No more do we see photos of prominent persons having meetings with heavily armed Kachalla/bandit leaders as occurred under the previous administration. Instead, bandits are being killed, arrested, tried and convicted,” he said.
He recalled that during the eight years of Buhari, parts of Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto and other states were occupied by bandits, adding that Nigerians living in Abuja could hardly travel to Kaduna.
He also recalled how a thousand terrorists in motorcycles invaded Kuje prison and freed over 500 of their fellow terrorist, including how Boko Haram militants were being rehabilitated and feted, with the government throwing graduation parties for them at which they wore trendy clothes with gifts given to them, while the orphans whose parents they killed were still in IDP camps.
“Terrorists breached Kaduna Airport, and flights were diverted to Abuja. Bandits infiltrated the Nigerian Defence Academy, and soldiers were killed and abducted. Even the Abuja-Kaduna railway built by President Jonathan was bombed, and tens of Nigerians were either killed or abducted.
“All that is history, as Nigeria is now more secure and has moved up in the Global Terror Index from the third most insecure country under Buhari to number six.
“Especially as separatists who caused mayhem and havoc with the proscribed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra in Nigeria’s southeast region have been apprehended and are now facing trial in Nigeria and Finland, including their lynchpin, Nnamdi Kanu, and his minion, Simon Ekpa.
“Finally, with cybersecurity threats, such as that posed to Nigeria by Binance, which was funnelling $25 billion out of Nigeria annually, even as it shielded terror suspects and kingpins through the anonymity it afforded them, the National Security Adviser took decisive action that shut down their operations, stabilising Nigeria’s fiscal regime,” he said.
