Tinubu is 90? Omokri hits back at Atiku with 1996 Photo

By Kazeem Ugbodaga

Former presidential aide Reno Omokri has challenged former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar’s claim that President Bola Tinubu is 90 years old, producing a photograph purportedly taken in 1996 to question the assertion.

Omokri shared the photograph on his X page on Friday, showing Tinubu alongside journalist and publisher Dele Momodu, whom he said could authenticate the picture’s date and location.

The intervention followed an interview in which Atiku, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate for the 2027 election, claimed that Tinubu was 90 and said he had evidence to prove it in court.

Atiku made the assertion while defending his decision to seek the presidency despite concerns about his own age.

“I have evidence that he is [90], and I will present it in court,” Atiku said during the BBC Hausa interview.

Reacting, Omokri argued that the photograph raised questions about the age claim.

He said the picture showed Tinubu and Momodu in London in 1996 and urged Nigerians to consider how old Tinubu would have been at the time if the President were actually 90 in 2026.

“If Asiwaju is indeed ninety years of age, then he would have been sixty when this photo was taken exactly thirty years ago,” Omokri said.

He then asked whether Tinubu appeared to be 60 in the photograph.

“Does His Excellency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, look like a sixty-year-old in this photo?” He asked.

Omokri also questioned whether Tinubu appeared to be 50 in the image, challenging the basis of Atiku’s allegation.

He called on Momodu to testify to the authenticity of the photograph, including when and where it was taken.

“Dele Momodu is alive to testify to the authenticity of this photograph and the date and place where it was taken,” Omokri said.

Omokri further appealed to Momodu, recalling the journalist’s previous accounts of Tinubu’s support for him during his exile under the military regime of the late General Sani Abacha.

He argued that political campaigns ahead of the 2027 election should focus on issues affecting Nigerians rather than what he described as attempts to “age-shame” political opponents.

“But to age-shame people with ages that are not even theirs is to reduce the discussion about who governs Nigeria to an unbecoming level,” Omokri said.

Tinubu’s publicly stated date of birth is March 29, 1952, which puts his age at 74 in August 2026. Atiku has not publicly produced the evidence he referred to during the BBC interview to substantiate his 90-year claim.