Did Ibrahim Traore decline an Oval Office invitation, as claimed by Facebook user?

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Miracle Akubuo

Claim:  A Facebook post claims Burkina Faso’s military leader, Ibrahim Traore, rejected an invitation to the Oval Office.

Verdict: Insufficient evidence. DUBAWA found no news reports on this development from credible media outlets. We also scrutinised the White House’s official website and President Trump’s X handle and found no invitation by the American president to Traore.

Full Text 

Burkina Faso’s military leader, Ibrahim Traore, has been in power since September 2022 after ousting coup leader Paul Damiba, who had previously seized leadership from former civilian president Roch Kabore in January 2022. Both coup leaders had justified their reasons for the military takeover as the failure of the previous governments to curb insecurity.

Ever since becoming supreme leader in the West African state, Traore’s government has adopted stern measures it believes to serve the state’s interests. These included withdrawing from the Economic Countries of West African States (ECOWAS) after refusing the regional bloc’s pleas to return to civilian rule.

A Facebook page, “Diary of Africa History,” shared a post on Wednesday, March 19, 2025, claiming that Traore declined an invitation to the Oval Office in the United States of America (USA).

As of Wednesday, March 19, 2025, the post had accumulated about 58 reactions, 20 comments, and five shares.

Some Facebook users queried the US president’s habit of inviting other presidents to the White House but never visiting them in their own countries. Meanwhile, some praised the military leader for dismissing Trump’s alleged invitation.

One user, Noluntu Masia, questioned, “Why must he always order other presidents to visit him as if he is beyond them? Why doesn’t he pay him(Traore) a visit… He is full of himself…”

Another user, Joseph Sekaleli, observed, “This man is becoming the king of Africa…”

Meanwhile, Kulani Mathebula affirmed, “If we had presidents like him in other African countries. We would go far as a continent.”

We found that similar posts were shared on X (here, here, and here ), Thread (here and here), and Facebook (here, here, here, and here).

The personalities’ high-ranking profiles in their respective countries and the virality of the claim prompted DUBAWA to verify the post.

Verification 

DUBAWA conducted an extensive Google search on the claim but found no information to confirm its veracity. No credible news outlet reported such a development.

We also checked the White House’s official website for any invitation but found information corroborating the Facebook user’s claim.

Furthermore, we checked Donald Trump’s official X handle but found no corroborating information.

Besides, there was no public report of President Trump inviting any African leader for a meeting or a special occasion.

Conclusion 

DUBAWA’s investigation shows that no media report or post suggests Traore received or declined President Trump’s invitation.