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Claim: An X user shared a video claiming that Saudi Arabia has released the names of Nigerians sentenced to death over drug-related offences.
Verdict: Misleading! Reports from credible media outlets revealed that the names mentioned were already sentenced to death in 2019 and not recently, as portrayed.
Full Text
For decades, ethnic intolerance and disunity among major ethnic groups in the country have proliferated, leading to the spread of ethnocentric hate speech and bigotry. Social media has become a stable tool for such ethnic-targeted disinformation.
The ethnic and language diversity has also made it easier for toxic ethno-aligned narratives to spread.
On Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025, an X user “@Uchechukwubiaf4” shared a reaction video claiming that the government of Saudi Arabia has released the names of Nigerians sentenced to death over drug deals.
The two-minute, 26-second video shows a lady giving details of the information while showing slides of Nigerians supposedly sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia.
Furthermore, the lady in the video claimed no Igbo names were on the list. She emphasised this point with slides of screenshots from publications by Channels TV and The Cable.
The post’s engagement statistics revealed that it had generated about 55,000 views, 4120 likes, 1690 reposts, 668 bookmarks, and 130 quotes as of Saturday, Aug. 9, 2025.
Scouring through the comment section, many users questioned the post’s validity.
“So, Jimoh Idhola Lawal, Ibrahim Chiroma, Aliu Muhammad, and Kuburat Ibrahim are Yoruba names? @UnlimitedEniola questioned.
Another user, @Shola88710606, commented, “All na Ibo that collected Nigerian passports in Yoruba names so they are eligible for Saudi Visa and travel.”
In doubt, @Elvist-Kline asked, “Where did you get this info?”
We found similar posts on Facebook here and here.
The tribalistic nature of the post and the massive engagement generated made DUBAWA verify its authenticity.
Verification
DUBAWA carried out a keyword search on the screenshot of the Channels TV report, which reads, “Saudi Executions Soar To 17 In Three Days.”
The search led us to a report by the media outlet on Aug. 4, 2025, detailing a surge in the executions brewing from drug and terrorism related offences, with no mention of any names of executed individuals.
Meanwhile, a Google Reverse Image Search on the screenshot of TheCable’s report featured in the video led us to a similar post shared on Facebook by Oriental Times Nigeria in 2019.
We conducted a keyword search, which led us to the original report by The Cable in 2019 titled “FULL LIST: ’23 Nigerians’ on death row in Saudi Arabia.”
According to the report, the individuals were arrested for possessing banned substances between 2016 and 2017 at King Abdul-Aziz International Airport, Jeddah, and Prince Muhammad bin Abdulaziz International Airport, Madinah.
Following their arrest, these individuals were sentenced to death for contravening the Narcotic and Psychotropic Substances Control Law, which is punishable by death in the country.
The Nation and Daily Nigerian also reported similar developments in 2019, as seen here and here, respectively.
Conclusion
DUBAWA’s research found that the claim is misleading. The report referenced was from an incident that happened in April 2019, involving Nigerians convicted over drug-related transactions in Saudi Arabia.
