Mr Reno Omokri, a human rights activist, lawyer and a well-known critic of President Muhammadu Buhari and his government, has refuted claims that he is likely to join former President Goodluck Jonathan to defect to the ruling Party of the All Progressives Congress (APC), given how loyal and respectful he is towards the immediate past President.
This allegations or insinuation in the media, came after the ‘shocking’ defection of Chief Femi Fani-Kayode to the ruling party on Thursday.
Mr Reno Omokri who said that former President Jonathan is not defecting to APC, and even if he does, he will not be going with him, had said this while responding to a tweet posted online by a popular Lagos Radio Presenter, Yaw on Friday.
In the Tweet, Mr Yaw had tweeted asking:
“So if Goodluck Jonathan officially moves to APC, would my brother Reno Omokri also move with him? because I know he respects His Excellency GEJ alot,” he had tweeted on Friday 17th September 2021.
Mr Reno Omokri who somehow took offence to the tweet, as he felt he is being likened to Chief Femi Kani-Kayode who recently jumped ship to APC after swearing over his dead body never to join a party he once referred to as Almajiri Peoples Congress, said:
“I am not Femi Fani-Kayode. I urge you, your radio station, and the general Nigerian public not to be emotionally agitated. Don’t be excitable. Be rational. Put things into proper perspective. Study my past. Am I or am I not a stable person? You and the public should be able to gauge my future conduct from my past conduct. Let me make this clear: Former President Jonathan will not join the APC. And even if he does, I will NOT go with him. But he won’t.,” he said.
He continued by comparing his character and that of Chief Femi Kani-Kayode and want Nigerians to stop comparing him to the former Aviation Minister. He said:
“Fani-Kayode’s behaviour is not representative of my behaviour. My late father was an Appeal Court Justice. Investigate him. He was known for being a honest judge.
I was a Presidential spokesman for four years. Nobody has even accused me of stealing a pin. Betrayal, grovelling and instability are not in my DNA. So what will make me vulnerable to APC? My pedigree is too important to me to soil.
I must pass it unblemished to my children as it was passed on, unblemished, to me. My stomach does not control my mouth. What I say, and how I behave, are dictated by conscience, not by appetite!,” he added.
How Mr Reno Omokri Reacted To The Defection Of Fani Kayode?
Reno Omokri on hearing that the former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode has joined APC, said the move was because his stomach is empty and needed to be filled.
Fani-Kayode, who had vowed never to return to APC, but he ate his vomit on Thursday when he officially defected to the APC.
Reacting to Fani-Kayode’s defection, Mr Reno Omokri said politics without shame has been the bane of Nigeria and urged those who love Nigeria to also love business.
He said: “Politics without shame is the bane Nigeria. This is why I urge those who love Nigeria to also love business. When you have independent sources of money, you will never call a cow your brother because you want to eat meat.
“How can you know that a person is an inveterate and incurable nepotistic tribalist, and you have said so yourself, then you kowtow to him?
“Buhari is the worst thing to happen to Nigeria, and APC is a gathering of all that is wrong in Nigeria.
“May I never be in a situation where I will have to return to my vomit because my stomach is empty. God I beg you. I beg you. In Christ’s Name!,” he added.