Claim: A viral post on Facebook claims that Imo State University has been renamed Muhammadu Buhari University, Owerri.
Verification has revealed that President Mohammadu Buhari only visited Imo State to commission four newly executed projects and there is no evidence to suggest that Imo State University has been renamed Muhammadu Buhari University Owerri.
Full Text
Imo state is seen by many as the hub of the operation of the pro-Biafra group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in Nigeria’s South-east since the agitation for the independent republic of Biafra started.
So the August visit of President Buhari on 9 September 2021, to commission four newly executed projects in the state, triggered contrasting satires, claims and opinions on social media.
Dubawa stumbled on one of such claims by @TenSquare Reports, a Facebook page. It claimed that Imo State University has been renamed Muhammadu Buhari University Owerri.
This post has generated 211 comments and 145 shares as at 22 September 2021, the time of filing this report.
Dubawa read the exchange of comments among users. While some believed and condemned the assumed act, others made a joke out of the post.
Pascal Ase Larry in reaction condemned the Igbo tribe, apparently for allowing such action. His response reads in part, “Igbo kwenu! Hypocricy of d highest order. If it where (were) to be another south west or south suth (south) state that did this hypocrisy. we would have seen Igbo Facebook warriors criticizing, castigating, bombarding an calling names.”
Another user, Fidelis Atubo, also tagged or painted it tribal. The user wrote, “How much them give the governor? Tank God say buhari don do 4years finish if not he for win again. This is the difference between the Northerners and the other people of Nigeria. Make we continue to take moni one day them go even collect our hand from us then there will be no hand to collect the moni again then eye’s go clear.”
These replies triggered the urge to verify the authenticity of the claim.
Verification
Since this post didn’t give full details on when and where Imo State University was renamed Muhammadu Buhari University Owerri and didn’t provide a link to the full story, this researcher decided to conduct a word search.
And the result revealed that despite the threat by the (IPOB) few days earlier to disrupt President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to Imo State, the president arrived Owerri, the state capital on 9 September, 2021, to commission four newly executed projects by Governor Hope Uzodinma’s administration.
The president commissioned a polytechnic, a balloon technology-driven underground tunnel with surface drainage (Chukwuka Nwoha), Naze Road, and Nekede/Ihiagwa Road in addition to a newly-built exco Chambers within the Government House, known as the Douglas House and the Egbeada Bypass (Amakohia).
The president held a town hall meeting with leaders of the five states in the South-east geopolitical zone before departing for Abuja.
At the time of filing this report, Dubawa didn’t get any public record in any credible platform to show that Imo State University has been renamed Muhammadu Buhari University Owerri.
So this researcher contacted the Dean, Students Affairs, Imo State University, Professor Okee Okoro, to confirm the authenticity of this claim, and he said the claim is false.
“This is very very very untrue, There was no such thing as that and would never be. The President never visited the school even when he came to Imo State a few weeks back, so I don’t know how they got this claim that Imo State University has been renamed Muhammadu Buhari University Owerri.”
Conclusion
Verification has revealed that President Mohammadu Buhari only visited Imo State to commission four newly executed projects and there is no evidence to suggest that Imo State University has been renamed Muhammadu Buhari University Owerri.
The researcher produced this fact-check per the 2021 Kwame Karikari Fact-checking Fellowship partnership with JAY 101.9 FM Jos to facilitate the ethos of truth in journalism and enhance media literacy in the country.
