IN SHORT: The Nigerian government has denied online claims that a major road in the capital Abuja, named after the late military ruler Murtala Muhammed, has been renamed after Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka. The government also denied claims that the proposal to rename the road came from minister Nyesom Wike.
The Nigerian government has debunked rumours that an Abuja road named after the late military head of state Murtala Muhammed has been renamed after Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka.
Some Facebook posts reporting on the denial further claimed that the government said the minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, had suggested the renaming.
"FG denies renaming Murtala Muhammed Expressway after Soyinka says Wike only suggested it," reads one Facebook post. (Note: See more instances listed at the end of this report.)
FG refers to the federal government, while the capital, Abuja, is located in the Federal Capital Territory.
Killed in a failed coup attempt in February 1976 after only seven months as Nigeria's head of state, Muhammed is revered, especially in the northern region.
He is also credited with initiating the moving of Nigeria's capital from Lagos to Abuja and returning the country to civilian rule. The international airport in Lagos, the country's largest, is also named after him.
A native of southern Nigeria, Soyinka won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986 and is one of Nigeria's most prominent writers.
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Renaming Murtala Muhammed Way after Soyinka, who shares an ethnicity with president Bola Tinubu, could trigger north-south regional and ethnic rivalry.
So did the federal government say that Wike proposed the change? We checked.
Government statement says the renaming was never considered
A statement by Rabiu Ibrahim, a spokesperson for the information ministry, responded to the claims, saying the federal government had not considered renaming the expressway.
Ibrahim said it was instead the Arterial Road N20, which links the expressway to the Ahmadu Bello Way, that was renamed.
"During the inauguration of the N20 (which is a new road), FCT Minister, Barrister Nyesom Wike, proposed to the President that the road be named after Prof Wole Soyinka, and the President agreed," the statement reads.
"Therefore, it is the Arterial Road N20 that is named after Prof Soyinka. The Murtala Muhammed Expressway remains unchanged and continues to bear the name of our esteemed former Head of State, General Murtala Ramat Muhammed.
"We urge all citizens to disregard any misinformation regarding the renaming of the Murtala Muhammed Expressway. The report is entirely false and only exists in the imagination of its purveyors."
The claim that Wike suggested renaming the Murtala Muhammed Expressway after Soyinka, and the federal government said so, is false. It could make the minister a target.
He has already been criticised by some northern groups, including those who believe that Wike, a southerner, should not have been made the minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The false claim also appeared here, here, here, here and here.
