Claim: A viral WhatsApp voice note making the rounds had announced the death of the national leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Bola Tinubu is not dead. He was only out of the country and had already returned on Tuesday night.
Full Story
On Tuesday, June 15, 2021, a WhatsApp voice note started circulating. In the short clip, a voice could be heard saying Tinubu has died.
According to the audio clip, Tinubu died at a hospital in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The speaker, who appeared to be one of those agitating for secession, was also heard congratulating his listeners that one of their “enemies” had died.
He also mentioned other prominent Nigerian leaders that could possibly die in a few months to come.
The unidentified speaker said in Yoruba, “Good morning everyone, I am happy to announce to you that our enemies are gradually dying. God has taken the life of one of the people disturbing Yoruba land. Tinubu is dead, he died in Dubai, that’s the news I got just now.
“We are overcoming our enemies, the curses are working, Tinubu just died in Dubai now. We will surely overcome all our enemies. We will get to the promised land, they will die one after the other, those left are Obasanjo and those kings.”
The audio has sparked wide speculations on social media over the rumoured death of the politician who just celebrated his 69th birthday barely three months ago on March 28.
Social media users on Facebook and Twitter have also shared reports of Tinubu’s death as the information keeps spreading like wildfire.
It was observed that handlers of social media accounts with the tag ‘Biafra’ rejoiced at the news.
Another Facebook user converted the audio clip obtained that initially propagated the news and converted it into audio.
Verification
Dubawa placed a call across to Tunde Rahman, the media aide to Tinubu, who confirmed that his boss just arrived in Nigeria on Tuesday night with pictures attached.
He, however, did not state which country Tinubu arrived from and the reason for his travel.
Also, credible national media organisations debunked the news stating that Tinubu was expected back to Lagos by Tuesday.
Conclusion
The viral claim that Bola Tinubu is dead is false as he just returned from France on Tuesday evening. He only travelled out of the country for a while.
The researcher produced this fact-check per the Dubawa 2021 Kwame KariKari Fellowship partnership with Sahara Reporters to facilitate the ethos of “truth” in journalism and enhance media literacy in the country.