A Nigerian journalist and author, Sam Omatseye, has claimed that Muhammadu Buhari and Bola Tinubu were together in Mecca on Wednesday, April 12, 2023.
The claim was made alongside a picture showing the incumbent president and the president-elect, which he posted on his verified Twitter handle on April 12, 2023.
The post has since garnered over one million views as of when it was retrieved from the microblogging platform.
Claim: Was the picture of Buhari and Tinubu taken in Mecca, Saudi Arabia on April 12, 2023?
Verification
CDD Election War Room ran multiple image reverse searches to check the veracity of the claim.
We found multiple reports from 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 where the picture was used.
The earliest was posted by Premium Times on May 11, 2019, with the headline, “Buhari hosts Tinubu to breaking of fast”.
The picture, taken by the president’s personal assistant (photograph), Sunday Aghaeze, at the presidential villa, Abuja, was reported to be an Iftar meal between Tinubu and Buhari during Ramadan.
In 2020, the photo appeared online after singer Davido made a post complaining about the state of the nation.
The image was used by Daily Post in 2021, with the caption, “2023 presidency: Buhari won’t extend his tenure by one hour – Tinubu”.
In the report published on April 28, 2021, Tinubu assured that Buhari would not extend his tenure in 2023.
In 2022, both the Sun newspaper and Daily Post used the image with the former referencing it to the Ramadan breakfast.
On March 23, 2023, Tunde Rahman, Tinubu’s spokesperson, noted in a statement that the president-elect had left the country for multiple trips.
Tinubu, whose exact whereabouts remain a mystery, was said to have traveled to Paris, London and Saudi Arabia.
Verdict: FALSE
CDD Election War Room found that Omatseye’s claim that the picture of Buhari and Tinubu was taken in Mecca on April 12, 2023, is false. The image was taken during Ramadan in May 2019.
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