Reno Omokri


Bemigho Reno Omokri is an author and lawyer.
Omokri was the host of Transformation with Reno Omokri, a Christian teaching TV show broadcast on San Francisco's KTLN and Detroit's Impact Network.
Omokri is the founder of a multimedia project, Build Up Nigeria, and has produced a series of short films in the U.S.
He is the pastor of the Mind of Christ Christian Center in California and Abuja. He is also known for using social media to project the Gospel. Omokri continues to write articles for major newspapers.

Background

On August 17, 2017, the Department of State Security attempted to arrest him at the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja but failed. Three days after the failed arrest attempt, the ruling party in Nigeria, the , named Omokri, along with former President Goodluck Jonathan and Governors Nyesom Wike and Willie Obiano as some of those showing "hatred, narrow-mindedness and meanness" to President Muhammadu Buhari. Until May 29, 2015, Omokri was a spokesperson for President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria. He was one of three spokesmen to the former President, and is credited with pioneering the use of social media for political purposes in Nigeria. He is a columnist with This Day and the founder of the Mind of Christ Christian Center and the Helen and Bemigho Sanctuary for Orphans. He is the only one of those three spokesmen who remained loyal to former President Jonathan after his departure from office, and was described by Newsweek as a "conduit" of Jonathan.

Career

Omokri was the Vice President, Africa, at Joe Trippi and Associates, a U.S Political Consulting firm.
As the Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria, he was noted for using social media to conduct surveys and project the developments undertaken by the Nigerian Government.
When President Umaru Musa Yar'adua was evacuated from Nigeria to Saudi Arabia on November 23, 2009, for a medical emergency, he did not hand over executive powers to his vice, Jonathan. This led to the founding of the G55 - a group who put pressure on the Nigerian Senate to transfer power to Jonathan. In 2011 he led some Diaspora Nigerians to endorse Jonathan for the 2011 elections, Omokri was a signatory of a letter by a group known as G 57 that called for the resignation of Yar'adua.
In 2013, Omokri represented President Jonathan at a national conference on ‘Inter-Faith Dialogue and the Quest for National Security in Nigeria', organized by the Interfaith Activities and Partnership for Peace. Speaking for the President, Omokri urged Christian and Muslim leaders to focus on Jesus as the common Denominator between their two faiths, and caused a stir when he stated on camera that The Quran mentions Jesus by name 25 times, five times more than The Quran mentions Mohammed. He also stated that almost every prophet in Judaism and Christianity is accepted in Islam.
Omokri was a panelist at the United States Institute of Peace as well as the Atlantic Council. He has also represented the Nigerian government at Chatham House in London.
On April 23, 2016, Omokri gave a keynote lecture at California State University, Sacramento's Center for African Peace and Conflict Resolution's 25th annual Africa/Diaspora conference. On the same day, he represented former President Jonathan at the city of Antioch, where Dr. Jonathan was honored by the city's mayor, Wade Harper. At the same event, the city of Lathrop also honored the former Nigerian leader.
Between 2015 and 2016, Omokri was the host of Transformations With Reno Omokri, a Christian teaching program broadcast on Comcast, DISH Network and Roku. The 30 minute weekly telecast was produced by the Mind of Christ Christian Center in California.
His book, Facts Versus Fiction, the True Story of the Jonathan Years: Chibok, 2015 and the Conspiracies was a number one bestseller on Amazon's International Business category and in its conspiracy theory category and was named by Channels TV amongst its top 20 books of 2017.
Since May 29, 2015, Omokri has become known as one of the main opposition voices in Nigeria and has had several run ins with the current government in power. He has also been an advocate for restoring the moral fabric of society and other conservative values.

Advocacies and causes

Buses for Democracy

During Nigeria’s 2019 General Elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission postponed the election previously scheduled to hold on Saturday February 16, 2019 by a week. As the election postponement was announced only 5 hours before the polls were to open, many Nigerians were angry having traveled at huge expense to vote only to be frustrated. As a result of their frustrations, Omokri initiated a program he tagged #BusesForDemocracy, which provided free transportation to voters to their polling unit irrespective of who they intended to vote for.

Free Leah Sharibu movement

Omokri is the founder of the Free Leah Sharibu movement, which is a media campaign advocating for the freedom of Leah Sharibu, a Christian girl who was kidnapped by the radical Islamic sect, Boko Haram, on February 19, 2018. Boko Haram offered to release Sharibu if she would convert to Islam, but she refused to renounce her Christian faith.
On April 3, 2019, former British Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson MP, unveiled the #FreeLeahSharibu customised clothing line at his office at Parliament, SW1.. Through the clothing line and his book, Mr. Omokri has raised over £4000 for Miss Sharibu’s parents
On April 11, 2019, Omokri wore the customised #FreeLeahSharibu tracksuit over Mount Everest in Nepal.
On Saturday, November 2, 2019, Omokri was honoured with the Humanitarian of the Year award at the Hollywood Weekly Magazine Film Festival, at Warner Brothers Studio in Burbank, California, for his work on the #FreeLeahSharibu campaign.

Publications