A photo making the rounds on social media has claimed that different countries around the world have, in announcing Nigeria’s president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, referred to him as either a drug dealer, a drug lord, or a drug kingpin.
The photo shows Tinubu and a visual representation of how Austria, Canada, and Poland had each referred to him after he was announced as Nigeria’s president-elect in the 2023 presidential election.
Nigeria’s presidential election was held on February 25, 2023, where Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressive Congress emerged the winner.
Verification: The CDD Election War Room found no evidence to show that Canada had referred to Tinubu as a Drug kingpin.
However, an Austrian newspaper did make a report about Tinubu on Tuesday, March 2, 2023. The report was in German, which is Austria’s national official language.
Using Google Translate, we found out that the report did not refer to Tinubu as a Drug baron or dealer, as the image claimed, but rather, it stated that Tinubu has been linked to drug dealing in the past.
“Oil billionaire Bola Tinubu, who has also been linked to drug trafficking in the past, won Nigeria’s presidential election” It read.
Furthermore, two Polish newspapers have also made a report following Tinubu’s announcement as the president-elect. Again, using google translate to translate the Polish report to English, the CDD Election War Room could not find anywhere where the newspaper had referred to Tinubu as a drug lord.
One of the newspapers, TVN24 had reported thus: “Tinubu, who has wielded power from behind the scenes for much of his career, has been called the ‘Godfather’ of the Nigerian establishment. In the past, he financed the election campaigns of candidates for the highest offices in the country, including the outgoing President Buhari.”
The newspaper had also gone ahead to state that Tinubu had served as governor of Lagos state where he made a huge fortune and that he’d been “repeatedly accused of corruption” which Tinubu “consistently denied.”
The other newspaper has made a headline that states “Nigeria: The Godfather is President”. However, throughout the report, we found no place where Tinubu was referred to as a drug lord.
Verdict: The claim that Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been announced as a drug baron, drug dealer, or drug lord by different countries is misleading. The CDD War Room found an Austrian newspaper that stated that he was linked to drug dealing in the past, and Polish newspapers described him as a Godfather. However, none of them referred to him as a drug kingpin or drug dealer.
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