On June 6, 2023, a Twitter user, @PO_GrassRootM tweeted a photo of Nigeria’s First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu, with a claim that the image shows her presiding over ‘Nigeria’s affairs’ at a meeting at the State House in lieu of the President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The tweet read:
“What is going on here? Is Remi Tinubu the President select? Why presiding over Nigeria’s affairs?”
The tweet has garnered over 900,000 views, more than 1,500 retweets and over 6,000 likes.
READ : False claim circulates that Nigeria’s State House set out N1.7bn for refreshment in 2022 budget
Similarly, another Twitter user, @AreaFada1 tweeted the photo with another caption thus:
“Shey una dey see sample. Dem wan dey show demselves. With the new APC, dem wan carry Naija from Democracy to Familiocracy before our korokoro eyes. It will NEVER happen. Der fathers.”
The tweet has generated over 900,000 views, more than 1,000 retweets and over 3,000 likes.
CLAIM
Photo shows Remi Tinubu presiding over ‘Nigeria’s affairs’ in place of President Tinubu.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is FALSE.
This photo surfaced online after Remi Tinubu resumed office as Nigeria’s First Lady, a few days after the inauguration of her husband, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as Nigeria’s president.
“The wife of President Bola Tinubu, Mrs Oluremi, on Monday in Abuja, assumed office as Nigeria’s First Lady,” The Punch reported.
According to the report, Remi was received by the Permanent Secretary of the State House, Tijjani Umar, who was also seen on the seat in the picture and other Heads of Units in the First Lady’s office.
READ ALSO : Atiku’s wife, Titi Abubakar makes false claim about the office of Nigeria’s first lady
The FactCheckHub’s findings indicated that the photograph was taken in the First Lady’s conference room after May 29 inauguration, a workspace previously occupied by past Nigerian first ladies including Aisha Buhari and Patience Jonathan.
THE VERDICT
The claim that the photo shows Remi Tinubu presiding over ‘Nigeria’s affairs’ in place of President Tinubu is FALSE; findings show that the photo was taken when Mrs Tinubu resumed at her office as Nigeria’s First Lady.
Nurudeen Akewushola is a fact-checker with FactCheckHub. He has authored several fact checks which have contributed to the fight against information disorder. You can reach him via [email protected] and @NurudeenAkewus1 via Twitter.
