Nigeria: No, Nigerian Presidential Candidate's Wife Oluremi Tinubu Didn't Say Her Husband Bola Would 'Give Nigeria a Christian/Christian Presidency After His Eight Years Rule'

22 December 2022
Africa Check (Johannesburg)
By Abisola Olasupo

IN SHORT: Nigeria's governing party's Muslim-Muslim presidential election ticket for 2023 has been much debated. But the wife of the All Progressives Congress's presidential hopeful did not promise her Muslim husband would ensure a Christian-Christian presidency after he serves for two terms.

A post shared on Facebook in Nigeria attributes a quote to Oluremi Tinubu, the wife of the ruling party presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

The west African country votes in general elections in February 2023.

Oluremi Tinubu is a third-time senator representing the Lagos central district. She is also a former first lady of Lagos state, her husband having been governor from 1999 to 2007.

The quote reads: "Tinubu will give Nigeria Christian/Christian presidency after 8yrs rule. - Remi Tinubu".

Incumbent president Muhammadu Buhari is a northern Muslim elected on an All Progressives Congress (APC) ticket in 2015. He has been in office for two terms of four years each and cannot constitutionally run for another term.

He succeeded Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian from the south.

Power in Nigeria has usually been rotated between the north, dominated by Muslims, and the south, dominated by Christians.

This is thought to have influenced the emergence of Tinubu, a southerner, as the APC's presidential candidate for 2023. But Tinubu is Muslim.

His religion is therefore controversial, only becoming more so when he chose another Muslim as running mate, Kashim Shettima from the north.

The quote circulating on social media suggests Tinubu has promised he will ensure power passes on to a Christian, after he has governed for two terms.

The same claim appeared on Facebook here, here and here

But did Oluremi Tinubu really say her husband had made this promise?

Quoted out-of-context

A search led us to a video where Oluremi Tinubu addressed a rally in the city of Lagos in southern Nigeria.

Here she said the APC Muslim-Muslim ticket "will set the tone for the future because sometime very soon you will see a Christian-Christian ticket". But Tinubu did not claim her husband was promising this.

The Facebook posts doing the rounds quoted her out of context.

Read the original story, with links and other resources.
Africa Check is a non-partisan organisation which promotes accuracy in public debate and in the media. Twitter @AfricaCheck and www.africacheck.org

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