An image showing multiple international leaders, with captions of them disapproving of the recently conducted presidential elections in Nigeria has been circulating on WhatsApp and other social media platforms.
Some of the individuals shown in this image are the United Nations (UN) Secretary-general, António Guterres; The President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping; The United Kingdom (U.K) Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak.
Others include US president Joe Biden; Russian president, Vladimir Putin; and the President of France, Emmanuel Macron.
Claim: Multiple news platforms reported some international leaders calling for the cancellation of Nigeria’s 2023 general election.
Verification
To verify these multiple claims, we checked reputable media organisations to find some of these comments and articles.
We found an article posted on March 1, 2023, by the President of France, Emmanuel Macron congratulating President-elect Tinubu.
We also found a tweet of the UK prime minister congratulating Bola Tinubu and looking forward to working with him. Both individuals have not come out to repudiate their statements since then.
We searched multiple media platforms and found no evidence or official comments made by those individuals calling for the cancellation of the recently concluded 2023 elections.
Verdict
The image circulating WhatsApp showing multiple international leaders calling for the cancellation of the Nigeria 2023 election is false. No reputable media outlet has published such news, and there have been no official statements from some of these individuals to that effect.