Naja’atu Muhammad, a former member of the presidential campaign council (PCC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has made numerous claims about her former party and members of the party.
Muhammad, who recently left the party and met Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was on Arise News on January 26, 2023 to speak about why she left the APC.
Claim
While speaking on TV, she said “Kabiru Sokoto was one of the most wanted terrorists, and he was found and arrested in his (Shettima) house.”
She said this to suggest Kashim Shettima, APC’s vice presidential candidate, had ties with the terrorist group Boko Haram.
Verification
Multiple reports as seen here and here show that Kabiru Sokoto was indeed arrested at the Borno governor’s lodge in Asokoro, Abuja.
At that time, Kashim Shettima was the Governor of Borno and the occupant of the house. However, upon his arrest, it was revealed that the terrorist kingpin was in the Governor’s lodge, disguised as a security agent, to kidnap Shettima’s children.
Sokoto has since been convicted by a federal high court in Abuja and sentenced to life imprisonment for the bombing of St Theresa Roman Catholic Church, Madalla on 25 December 2011.
Verdict
The claim is true, Sokoto was indeed arrested in Asokoro at the governor’s lodge.
Claim II
In another statement, Naja’atu Muhammad claimed that President “Muhammad Buhari since 2003 was getting 15 million votes but couldn’t be the President.” She said this to say the Peter Obi movement will not win because of “structural problems,” adding that Buhari had a similar cult following from 2003 but could not win until he built bridges.
Verification
In 2003, and 2007, Muhammadu Buhari contested as a presidential candidate on the platform of the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP). In both elections, he had 12,710,022 and 6,605,299 votes respectively.
In 2011, Buhari ran as the presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and got 12,214,853 votes.
In 2015, he eventually won the Presidential election under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) with 15,424,921 votes.
In 2019, he was re-elected under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) with 15,191,847 votes.
With this analysis and breakdown of the election results from 2003 to 2015, it is glaring that Buhari only got over 15 million votes in 2015 and 2019. In both election years, he was sworn in as the duly elected president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Verdict
Muhammad’s claim about Buhari getting 15 million votes and losing elections is false. Everytime Buhari got more than 15 million votes, he won the elections in question.