Omokri Hits Back at Atiku, Uses 1996 Photo to Challenge Tinubu’s ‘90’ Claim

By Shafii Haruna

The controversy over President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s age has taken another turn after Nigeria’s Ambassador to Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua, Reno Omokri, brought an old photograph into the debate.

Our Correspondent gathered that Omokri, in a Facebook post on Friday, shared a 1996 photograph showing Tinubu alongside media personality and African Democratic Congress chieftain, Dele Momodu.

His intervention came shortly after former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar claimed in a recent interview that Tinubu is 90 years old and insisted that he possesses evidence to support the allegation.

Rather than engage Atiku's claim solely through words, Omokri pointed his followers to the decades-old photograph, apparently inviting the public to consider whether the image is consistent with the age being attributed to the President.

The photograph has consequently added another layer to an already heated political argument, although an old photograph by itself cannot establish a person's exact date of birth.

What it does demonstrate, however, is that the question surrounding Tinubu's age has once again become a major talking point as the country gradually moves towards the 2027 presidential election.

Atiku has maintained that he is prepared to produce documentary evidence in court if necessary. Omokri's response, meanwhile, shifts the debate from political assertions to historical records and visual evidence.

The renewed argument also highlights how intensely personal issues can become weaponised during Nigeria's electoral seasons.

For now, the competing positions remain clear. Atiku says he has evidence that Tinubu is 90, while Omokri has produced a 1996 photograph as part of his challenge to that narrative.

Ultimately, however, the dispute cannot be conclusively settled by political arguments, social-media posts or photographs alone.

If the matter reaches the courtroom as Atiku has suggested, documentary records and verifiable evidence rather than political rhetoric, would be expected to provide the decisive answer.

Until then, the age question remains another intriguing chapter in the increasingly lively political conversation ahead of 2027.