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Claim: A Facebook post claims that a chief magistrate court in Sokoto has sentenced one Hamdiyya Shariff, a social media critic, to two years of imprisonment and 12 cane strokes.
Verdict: False. There are no news reports on this claim. Besides, Hamdiyya’s case is ongoing in court, and the Sokoto State police spokesperson stated that the alleged court sentence is untrue.
Full Text
On Nov. 9, 2024, the police authorities in Sokoto arrested and charged Hamdiyya Shariff to court for insulting the Sokoto State Governor, Ahmad Aliyu, and “inciting disturbance,”
The 18-year-old had made a now-brought-down TikTok post advocating for displaced people.
In light of this, a Facebook user, Max Jnr, on Thursday, Apr. 10, 2025, claimed Hamdiyya had been sentenced to two years imprisonment or 12 strokes of the cane for her critical comments against the Sokoto State government.
The post captions read, “A Sokoto Chief Magistrates’ Court presided over by Chief Magistrate Faruk Umar, has sentenced an 18-year-old social media activist, Hamdiyya Sidi Shariff, to 12 strokes of the cane, or 2 years imprisonment, or a fine of Fifty Thousand Naira.”
As of Friday, April 10, 2025, the post had accumulated over 15 reactions and 12 comments.
Many users believed the post’s credibility, while others in the comment section doubted it.
“There are (three) sides to a story, and so far, only one side is available,” Muhammad Abdulrahman, a Facebook user, wrote.
Another user, Iyaogbe Oyewole, asserted, “Flogging offenders in the 21st century? Barbaric!”.
Meanwhile, DUBAWA found similar blog posts and other Facebook accounts linking the claim to Nigeria. See here, here, here, and here.
Because of the claim’s virality and the subject matter’s potency to incite hatred among citizens, DUBAWA decided to carry out this research.
Verification
DUBAWA conducted a keyword search to determine if any credible media outlet reported the alleged development but found no supporting information.
Furthermore, we looked at the global human rights watchdog, Amnesty International’s official X handle. We found a post suggesting that the case is still in court and has not been decided, contrary to the claimant’s insinuations.
Moreover, a review of the lawyer handling the matter, Abba Hikima’s Facebook posts, shows the Sokoto court has given no such judgment. Abba mentioned that Hamdiyya’s case continues in court.
“In Sokoto State, the offence Hamdiyya is standing trial for carries three severe punishments: a minimum of two years imprisonment, not less than 12 strokes of the cane, and a fine of not less than ₦50,000,” he wrote.
Furthermore, DUBAWA contacted Rufai Ahmad, the police spokesperson in Sokoto, for further confirmation. Rufai told DUBAWA that although he could not speak on behalf of the court, he stated that the claim was not true.
“We did not have such judgment as you mentioned that the Facebook post claims,” he told our researcher.
We also contacted Abubakar Bawa, the Sokoto State governor’s media aide, but as of the time of filing this report, we had not received a response to our calls and texts.
Conclusion
DUBAWA’s findings reveal that the claim that the young social media critic was sentenced to punishment is false. Hamdiyya’s case is still pending in court.
