Tinubu not lying, actual Naira value was N2,000/$ under Buhari — Reno Omokri

Former presidential aide, Reno Omokri, has defended President Bola Tinubu over his recent comment on the value of the Naira, insisting that the President was not lying.

Tribune Online reports that President Tinubu had claimed that the Naira had stabilised under his administration, moving from about ₦1,900/$ when he assumed office to the current ₦1,450/$.

“The economy has stabilised, nobody is trading a piece of paper for an exchange rate anymore. When I took over, it was ₦1,900 to a dollar. It’s ₦1,450 now. It’s been stabilising there. You don’t have to know Cardoso before you get your foreign exchange,” Tinubu said.

Reacting in a post on his verified X handle, Omokri cautioned a user identified as “Emir” against hastily branding the President a “liar,” arguing that Tinubu’s remark was rooted in facts.

He explained that before Tinubu’s inauguration on May 29, 2023, Nigeria was spending about $1.5 billion monthly to subsidise the Naira even more than the petrol subsidy at the time.

Omokri noted that while the official exchange rate under ex-President Muhammadu Buhari stood at about ₦400/$, the “real unsubsidised value” of the currency was closer to ₦2,000/$.

He wrote: “Please fact-check me: Before President Tinubu was sworn in on May 29, 2023, Nigeria spent $1.5 billion monthly to subsidise the Naira. The naira subsidy was actually higher than the subsidy on petrol.

“Whereas under General Buhari, you were buying the Dollar at the rate of about ₦400 to $1, the real exchange rate without the subsidy was about ₦2000 to $1. 

“You may recall that when President Tinubu first floated the Naira, it suddenly fell to ₦1900 to $1.

“The reason it fell to that price was because that was the actual value of our currency. 

“President Bola Tinubu was referring to that unsubsidised amount, which was the real value of the Naira. 

The former presidential aide added that critics should verify facts before accusing Tinubu of dishonesty, suggesting that tools such as artificial intelligence could confirm the accuracy of the President’s claim.

Omokri also stressed that while political differences may exist, it was unfair to label the President a liar without proper fact-checking.

“He was not lying, and you can verify this with an AI like Grok. 

“I understand that some of us may have political disagreements with the President, but perhaps you and I can conduct cursory research before labelling him a ‘congenital liar’”, he concluded. 

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