Nigerians who are conversant with social media in February 2014 would easily remember the infamous alias ‘Wendell Simlin’ as it is synonymous with Reno Omokri. While in office as Special Adviser on New Media to President Jonathan, Omokri perpetrated the criminal act of identity theft by circulating emails to journalists and media houses, accusing the then suspended CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, who is now the Emir of Kano. The concocted story tried to link Sanusi with Boko Haram by painting him as a financier of terror using his office to channel funds to insurgents.


The lid was blown when recipients of the email began to ask questions which nobody could logically answer. A little nosing around exposed Reno Omokri as the perpetrator of this sinister act but he was using the email address of Wendell Simlin.

An investigation by SaharaReporters later revealed that the real Wendell Simlin lives in Hercules, California. Ms. Campbell, the mother of Wendell claimed that she is married to Omokri’s brother-in-law, adding that the presidential aide had exploited the relationship for criminal purposes. Mr. Omokri had used her son’s name, Wendell Simlin, to create a Facebook page, and proceeded to use the boy’s identity to create a fake document that sought to link Sanusi to terrorist acts.

Not only did Reno throw his nephew under the bus, he is still yet to be charged for the heinous crime. This is one major reason why that criminal can’t set foot on Nigerian soil.

His most recent shenanigans revolve around the name and identity of Leah Sharibu, one of the kidnapped Dapchi schoolgirls whom he wrote a book about. The book titled “Leah Sharibu: The Girl Boko Haram Left Behind” is on sale in hard cover on Amazon at $16.99. The supposed ‘movement’ has become a money-spinner of sorts for Reno Omokri as he goes about peddling #FreeLeahSharibu merchandise like some modern-day bootlegger, pulling on the humanitarian heart strings of unsuspecting politicians in the Western world. Most prominent of these is Boris Johnson, the current British Prime Minister, who was photographed with Reno holding up the t-shirt. This was touted by Reno as the ‘launching’ of the #FreeLeahSharibu clothing line in April 2019.

Boris Johnson has inadvertently become the face of this scam by this seemingly harmless act, as other donors see this as an endorsement of sorts. The general thinking across most donors and sympathizers in Europe is that if Johnson identifies with this, then it must be very legitimate.

On June 21, 2019 Nigerians on Twitter went on a sustained public outcry against the fraudulent activities of Reno milking the tragedy of the Sharibu’s for personal gain. The hashtag #RenoUndarted was trending for hours to the point where Reno had to respond. Omokri tweeted: “I made exactly ₦1 million from my book Leah Sharibu: The Girl Boko Haram Left Behind. The money spent only 5 minutes in my account. At the 5th minute, it was transferred to Leah’s mother. The transaction was verified by Kaduna state CAN Chairman, Rev J Hayab.”

Not a few prominent Nigerians have bought the T-shirt for prices ranging between N30,000 and N100,000, including but not limited to the former president of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor; a former finance minister, Senator Nenadi Usman; Umar Sani, a former spokesman for ex-Vice President Namadi Sambo, and an anonymous person, among others. Reno cleverly sidesteps the question of where these proceeds are used for.

He claims to have given all the proceeds from the sales of this book to Leah’s mother, but till date there is no proof of this transaction whether it was done by bank transfer or physical cash. For someone as self-seeking as Reno, we know that such a gesture would have been publicized with all pomp and pageantry, if this payment truly did take place.

In the light of all this, it was quite laughable and a bit surprising when on Thursday 22 August 2019, we saw Reno resurface on social media, via Twitter and Instagram to be precise, seeking for some false sense of relevance from his misguided and misinformed cheering fans, by trying to throw shades at the person of Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, the vice president of Nigeria. For someone that once served under a Nigerian president, he showed his glaringly shallow understanding of protocol and channels of communication in the office of the presidency. This centers on his misinterpretation of the president’s closing remarks at the just concluded incoming Ministers Retreat for members of President Buhari’s new cabinet.

“You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks.” These evergreen words from Sir Winston Churchill, aptly describe Reno’s latest predicament and the dignified silence from the camp of the VP, as not all utterances deserve any official response. Reno is nowhere near the person of the VP by a thousand light years, so I wonder why he thinks he can even gain the justification to attempt this latest clout-chasing expedition on social media. His cheerleaders will only end up pushing him over the cliff of oblivion, as he continues to tread this path of infamy.

By Morris Aruba from Abuja