By Pascal Oparada
Claims shared on Facebook and online indicating that wife of Nigeria’s president, Aisha Buhari, said Nigerians should not vote for her husband, President Muhammadu Buhari, in the forthcoming presidential elections in February 2019 is false.
An article published by a website Exclusive103.com, carried a headline quoting her as saying, “Anyone who votes for my husband is a fool.”
There is no evidence for the claim and no record of Aisha Buhari making those statements.
CrossCheck Nigeria, a coalition of major newsrooms in Nigeria including TheNiche, The Guardian, The Punch, Premium Times and others revealed that statements from Aisha Buhari’s verified Twitter account were taken out of context.
Her spokesperson, Suleiman Haruna confirmed that she did not make those statements and described many quotes attributed to Aisha Buhari in online articles as fake.
The article has been shared over 22,000 times on Facebook, with thousands of online posts repeating the claims.
The article in Exclusive103.com also featured quotes by Aisha Buhari which are true, underneath false quotes present in the headline. The article copied statements from a
Twitter thread by Aisha Buhari’s verified account, on October 7, where she was critical of the ruling All Progressives Congress party (APC).
Other articles have carried similar claims backed by alleged quotes from Aisha Buhari, such as that she is threatening to leave Aso Rock and that she has confirmed that President Buhari is actually dead. They were similarly described as false by her spokesperson.
Aisha Buhari has been an outspoken critic of the government since 2016, commenting on President Buhari’s government which she has repeatedly claimed is being thwarted by a few figures which she has not named. She has also criticised the lack of funding for the State House clinic.
Recently she was credited to have said two persons are the ones holding Buhari’s government at ramsom. She did not name the two persons.
