On this joyful day for my family and I, I thank the Almighty God for seeing me through many travails. To God be the glory. Also, permit me to thank His Excellency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, for the confidence reposed in me. I once again thank my foster parents, Esijolomi and Omerewumi, who moulded me, as a piece of clay they received from God, into what I am today. Unfortunately, Daddy is gone, but by the grace of God, my family and I had the great pleasure of celebrating my mother's 90th birthday this year. Other than God, NO OTHER HUMAN BEINGS have been more responsible for making me into what I am today than these two angels, who in my mother tongue are referred to as my Olayemi. I thank the angel in human form, and personification of all the goodness that it is possible for a human to have, in the person of Malam Nuhu Ribadu, a man most beloved of God. I thank His Excellency, Ambassador Sola Enikanolaiye, a most distinguished Nigerian diplomat and the Honourable Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. Sir, perhaps only you and I know how indebted I am to you. Finally, I thank God for my wife, Hana, who has created the blissful and peaceful environment that helped me find patience throughout my nomination, confirmation, posting, and final approval and acceptance by the host nation as Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to the United Mexican States. Bemigho Reno Omokri

Presenting a gift of a fully made-in-Nigeria walking stick, made from Sapele timber, to the Head of Mission of the Embassy of the United Mexican States, Chargé d'affaires, Mr José Manuel Briseño Flores. May God bless the friendship and fraternity between the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the United Mexican States. Entrega de un bastón, fabricado íntegramente en Nigeria con madera de Sapele, al jefe de misión de la Embajada de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos, el encargado de negocios, D. José Manuel Briseño Flores. Que Dios bendiga la amistad y la fraternidad entre la República Federal de Nigeria y los Estados Unidos Mexicanos. Bemigho Reno Omokri

Dear Agu, Thank you for your feedback. I regret that you feel this way. I have no hatred in my heart for anyone or any group. Rather, I hold a charitable mindset toward all, regardless of region, religion, or communion. Agu, you may recall the Onitsha Market Fire of 2019. Could you please Google how much I donated to the victims of the incident? These were persons of Igbo origin. By the way, I have never done the same to persons who are of the same ethnicity as myself, even though there have been fires in markets in Warri. And you are right. I do not have shame. Shame is not a good thing. God did not create humans to be ashamed. Shame comes when you have low self-esteem and put other people's opinions above your own sense of self-worth. I am the grandson of an Olu of Warri, and my pedigree is a source of inspiration and personal satisfaction. Whether I am an Ambassador for a day or four months, as you claim, no elective or appointive title is as important as that to me. I believe in one indivisible Nigeria with equal rights for all citizens. By the grace of God, I will represent all Nigerians in the United Mexican States without fear or favour. Thanks again, and may God bless you. Bemigho Reno Omokri

Congratulations Omere. Oton-Olu. More wins ahead

To God Be The Glory, The Chargé d'affaires of the Embassy of the United Mexican States in Abuja, @EmbaMexNig, Mr José Manuel Briseño Flores, Today In Abuja Delivered The Agrément From The Government of the United Mexican States Accepting Me, Bemigho Reno Omokri, to Serve as Ambassador Extraordinaire and Plenipotentiary of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to the United Mexican States, With Concurrent Accreditation To The Republic of Guatemala, The Republic of Honduras, and The Republic of Nicaragua, to the Director of Protocol of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, His Excellency, Ambassador Babagana Wakil.

One of my all time favourite photographs!

Being Decorated With The Nigeria-Mexico Friendship Pin By The Top Mexican Diplomat in Nigeria

Dear Ikeagwuani, Thank you for your feedback. Yes, this is how I dressed twenty-seven years ago, and that is how I still dress today. What I am holding is not a kettle, although there is nothing wrong with having a kettle for alwala nearby. The reason Muslim communities have, over the years, been immune to plagues and pandemics that have affected humankind is their practice of ritual cleansing, otherwise known as ablution. What I am holding in my hand is a pager. Don't forget that this was 1999. There were no GSM phones in Nigeria. At that time, if you could afford it, you had a pager. When people wanted to reach you, the pager would buzz and deliver their messages. Thanks again, and may God bless you. Bemigho Reno Omokri

Dear Jaja, Thank you for your feedback. Are you aware that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu was employed by Mobil, which later became ExxonMobil, the largest company in the world at the time? Not only was he a Manager at Mobil, but he also rose to become the Treasurer of Mobil Nigeria. While he was Mobil Nigeria's Treasurer, the same thing happening in Nigeria today began to happen at Mobil then: the company's revenue began to increase exponentially. You guys need to ask the person cooking up these propaganda sound bites for your crew to do a better job! Thanks again, and may God bless you. Bemigho Reno Omokri

Dear Ejeh, Alhamdulillahi that I look like an Almajiri. If all Nigerians possessed the honesty and integrity of an Almajiri, our country would be a paradise today. Since I was born on Tuesday, January 22, 1974, to today, I have never heard that an Almajiri stole, peddled drugs, engaged in romance scams, or participated in kidnapping or armed robbery. In case you are unaware, an Almajiri is an ascetic Islamic scholar who learns under a Malam in the Malam's Zaure. In addition to memorising the Qur'an, Almajiranci instils in those who pass through it a lifelong work ethic and philosophy that downplays materialism in favour of the ideals of spiritual self-development. Many of Nigeria's most prominent figures were once Almajiri, and while I won't mention names, they include a current Dollar billionaire and a Presidential candidate who told me about his experience in a Zaure when I was ghostwriting his autobiography. If there is any purity of spirit and heart in Nigeria, in my opinion, you will find it in almajirai before you will find it in any other person. For this compliment, Ejeh, I deeply thank you again from the bottom of my heart, and to every present and former Almajiri reading this, may God bless your Quranic education and may it lead to your betterment and the greatness of Nigeria. Bemigho Reno Omokri

Pat Utomi was my client almost twenty years ago, and he paid me VERY handsomely, too. This photo of Professor Utomi and I was taken in 1999. I was twenty-four, going on twenty-five. He was forty-three and stepping into his role as Platinum Bank Chairman. Everything I am wearing in this photo was made in Nigeria from head to toe. Eight years after this photo was taken, he wrote and published a piece. From California, I corrected the grammatical, punctuation and lexical errors in the article and sent it to him along with my phone number. That same night, Mr Utomi called me in Alameda, California. He marvelled that I could correct his meticulously written opus, and thereafter, I became his consultant. One day, the late Chief Anthony Anenih said and did something that I felt was disparaging to Professor Utomi. I wrote a powerful, stinging response in Pat Utomi's name, and when he read it, he said to me, 'Chief Anenih has once been good to me, and no matter what he does against me, I will not be unfaithful to that goodness'. He instructed me to set aside what I had written down and said he would absorb the pain from Chief Anenih, just as he once absorbed the gain from him. Today, even if I disagree with Pat Utomi, I still live and learn from that principle he taught me. Yes, several people have brought up the 'Civil War' comment with me. I wish he had not said what he said. But 'Pat Utomi has once been good to me, and no matter what he does against me, I will not be unfaithful to that goodness'. I can say that Professor Pat Utomi is a good man, a patriot, and someone who has contributed to Nigeria's greatness. When His Excellency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is re-elected for a second term, there will be peace in Nigeria, and patriots like Pat Utomi will come around as they see their dreams for a better Nigeria, which is already coming to fruition, become even more glaring. Bemigho Reno Omokri

The reason your life is full of division is often because everyone in your life sees your vision and knows your mission. Keep your plans secret. As powerful as God is, He does not reveal His plans to everyone. Coca-Cola has been the top-selling drink for 134 years because nobody knows its secret formula. Privacy creates value. Mystery helps you make history: Buy that land discreetly. Build the house secretly. When it is ready, do the opening publicly. People can't sabotage what they don't know! #RenosNuggets

The Age Factor: Why Peter Okoye Is Really Asking You To Vote For President Tinubu Earlier today, I watched a now-viral video by the Afrobeats singer Peter Okoye, in which the artist, who styles himself as Mr P, said, inter alia, 'Let's leave these old guys, dem done try. Let's retire them' and vote for Peter Obi. I find that statement surprising because it reveals that Mr Okoye lacks depth in the fundamentals of mathematics. Peter Obi is 65, while his running mate, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, is 70 this year. Kwankwaso's 70th birthday is in three days. Together, they have a combined age of 67.5 years. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is 74 this year, while Vice President Kashim Shettima is 60. That gives you a combined age of only 67 years. So, going by Peter Okoye's logic, if we are to use only age as a factor in voting, with the premise that we are to vote for the younger and fresher of the two tickets (because it is a joint ticket), then the natural thing for Nigerians, including Peter Okoye, to do is to vote for the incumbent Tinubu/Shettima ticket! If we consider only age, then among the three major Presidential tickets, the youngest is the incumbent ticket, since the Atiku (79) Amaechi (61) ticket has a combined age of 70 years. But even beyond age, there are still other reasons to vote for the President over Peter Obi. Peter and Paul Okoye started their musical careers in Jos, Plateau State, and then later in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory. But only when they moved to Lagos did they become megastars. They eventually settled in Lagos and continue to thrive there. Why did they thrive in Lagos? Because then-Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu built up Lagos and tripled its Gross Domestic Product during his tenure. For example, while Peter Obi did not build a single nursery, primary, secondary, or university, Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu built multiple, including: The Abibatu Mogaji Millennium Secondary School, Agege. The Bola Ige Millennium Secondary School, Ajeromi. The Babs Fafunwa Millennium Secondary School, Ojodu. The Millennium Senior Secondary School, Egbeda. But if Peter Okoye can name even one school initiated, started, completed, and commissioned by Peter Obi, with government funds while he was Anambra Governor, I, Reno Omokri, will heed his call to vote the Obi/Kwankwaso ticket. And it was not just schools. Governor Tinubu built Independent Power Projects, including: Alausa Independent Power Plant (10.4 MW) Akute Independent Power Plant (12.55Mw) Lagos Island 1&2 Independent Power Plant (10Mw) Mainland Independent Power Plant (8.8Mw) Lekki Peninsula Integrated Power Project (6Mw) Island IPP located in Marina (10MW) All these and other projects were built by the Bola Tinubu Lagos State Government, in partnership with the private sector, although some were completed by his predecessors, and they have resulted in Lagos's economy being 15 times larger today than it was in 1991, when it stopped being Nigeria's capital. If Mr Peter Okoye can show me, or any other Nigerian, even one power project started, completed, and commissioned by Peter Obi with government funds while he was Anambra Governor, I, Reno Omokri, will heed his call to vote the Obi/Kwankwaso ticket. The question Nigerians should ask Peter Okoye is: if Peter Obi's record in office was so exemplary that it merits his votes and the endorsement of Nigerians, then why are Peter Obi and Peter Okoye, along with their families, living in the Lagos that President Bola Tinubu and his predecessors built, rather than living in Anambra that Peter Obi turned into heaven? If you are basing it purely on age and records, then I urge Peter Okoye to vote for the Tinubu/Shettima ticket, because since this government came into being, young Nigerians have never experienced even one day of an ASUU nationwide strike. Not only are lecturers well paid but a million university undergraduates are also enjoying the NELFUND Student Loans. Bemigho Reno Omokri

Dear Chukwu, Thank you for your feedback. Wishing me death is like wishing a fish water. Death is an inescapable and eventual reality for me, not a wish. Every soul must taste death. Death is actually more certain than life. Not everyone gets the chance to live. For example, a stillborn child never got the chance to live, yet it experiences death. Hebrews 9:27 says: "It is appointed for men to die once." Chukwu, I, Bemigho Reno Omokri, have an appointment with death that leaves no room for disappointment! My death is not a matter of if. It is only a matter of when. I have a beginning. And everything that has a beginning must have an end. My dear Chukwu, please don't waste your time wishing me what God, through nature, is dishing to me and every other person on the planet. As for being useless, it is regrettable that you think that of me. But what is useless to one man may often be useful to another person. For example, you eat an orange and spit out the 'useless' seeds, but to a farmer, those seeds are very useful. Corn is food for chickens but useless to lions. God did not create me to be useful to everybody. The Creator did not also send me to this realm to live up to the expectations of others. God put me on Earth to be useful to those whose destinies I can help and to meet the expectations of those who can help my purpose. So, Chukwu, I thank you again for your very useful feedback, and may God bless you and your household. Bemigho Reno Omokri

Reno's claims on Akwete cloth as a 19th-century adaptation of Ijebu Aso Olona (via Ijaw Ikaki) match John Gillow's African Textiles and scholarly sources. Aso Oke etymology as upland cloth holds. Isi-Agu is a mid-20th-century printed fabric with colonial/European design roots, not ancient indigenous. Dickson's Ijebu ancestry is documented. Strong sourcing on the textiles. 8/10.

Dear Uchenna, Thank you for your feedback. I most certainly do not hate Igbo people. I love Igbos. Don't you see how handsome and beautiful Igbos are? Who in their right mind would detest a people of such pulchritude, especially when combined with industriousness? Igbos are a major asset to the Black Race. I hate no one. My life's purpose is to promote peaceful religious and regional coexistence. And if you talk in terms of my charitable activities, no Nigerian ethnicity has benefited from my philanthropy as much as the Igbo. And why would I give my daughter an Igbo name if I hate Igbos? Since childhood, I have been wearing these clothes. My first birthday photo, taken when I was presented to my grandmother's sister in Ode-Itsekiri (Ale Iwere), was in Aso Oke. My parents were conscious people who believed in Africa and Nigeria. And the reason I wear a lot of Northern clothes (not Awusa, as you put it) is that my father, though from Delta State, more or less became a Northerner, and the apple does not fall far from the tree. I made a vow to wear only authentically made-in-Nigeria clothes made entirely from Nigerian fabric. Agbada made from Aṣọ òfi (AKA Aṣọ òkè) fits that mould. Babanriga made from Kaduna textiles also represents that consciousness. Even the Kemije that my people, the Itsekiri, wear, I don't wear it. The reason is that it is not authentically Itsekiri culture. It is a British sailor's uniform that we copied. Even the fabric is not of Sub-Saharan African origin. The reason the Izon (Ijaw) call a Kemije Etibo is because it was sold for eight bo (also sometimes spelt Beau or Bow) by the European sailors. A bo is an old form of currency. Much as I love the Igbo people, Isi-Agu is not authentically Nigerian. It has nothing to do with Nigeria. Please fact-check me: Isi-agu originated as a colonial-era upholstery material for chairs and curtains. It is still used today in the poorer parts of the world. At one point, I even wanted to wear Akwete cloth to be more pan-Nigerian. But then, I found out that Akwete cloth is actually of Ijebu origin. Please fact-check me. You can read about it in the British historian John Gillow's 2003 book, African Textiles: Colour and Creativity Across a Continent. The Ijebu have been trading with the Ijaw for centuries. Many prominent Ijaws are actually Ijebu. For example, former Bayelsa Governor and now NDC National Leader, Seriake Dickson, is actually an Ijebu man. He is from the Awujale's palace. His family went to trade in Izon land 200 years ago and never returned. Please fact-check me. For hundreds of years, the Ijebu sold a fabric known as Aṣọ Olona to the Ijaws. The Izon (Ijaw) renamed it Ikaki. Only in the 19th Century did the Ijaws in Ndoki resell Ikaki fabric to Igbo women from a village called Akwete. Those women began making a version of Ikaki, which the Igbos called Akwete cloth. Google it or use an AI you trust. Akwete is a replica of Aṣọ Olona, and Aṣọ Olona was influenced by Aṣọ Ofi, which the Ijebu bought from the Oyo Empire. The word Aṣọ òkè is of Ijebu origin, meaning that they went òkè (upcountry) to buy the Aṣọ, hence Aṣọ òkè. Thanks again, Uchenna, and may God bless you. Bemigho Reno Omokri

Only sleep is promised. Waking up is not guaranteed. Sleep, itself, is a kind of death. If you made God's wake-up list in the morning, never immediately reach for your phone. Instead, reach for God. Pray. Thank your Creator. But maybe you do not believe in God. That is still okay. I don't judge: in that case, meditate. Contemplate. And ideate. Ask yourself questions like, 'Why am I still alive? ' Engage in philosophy even if you reject theology. 1 in 8 people alive will die during their sleep. Please fact-check me. To wake up from sleep is a blessing. Stop taking it for granted! #RenosNuggets