No, Nigerian senator Orji Uzor Kalu not dead
IN SHORT: Some Facebook posts claim that prominent Nigerian senator Orji Uzor Kalu has died after an operation in Germany. The politician has personally debunked the claim in several videos.
According to several posts on Facebook in August 2024, Nigerian senator Orji Uzor Kalu died in a German hospital after surgery.
Part of the one post, dated 31 August, reads: "A forbes rated Billionaire and former governor of Nigeria South east state of Abia, Orji Uzor Kalu is dead. He died few weeks ago in a Wiesbaden Germany Hospital after a major surgery ... Kalu's family has concluded a sinister plot to present an impostor to Nigerians and the world as the original Kalu."
(This post includes the word "reportedly" in its headline, but the rest of the story is presented as fact.)
Kalu represents Abia North senatorial district in the Nigerian senate, the upper house of the national assembly. He was the governor of Abia state from 1999 to 2007. He ran for president of the country in the 2007 election, coming fourth.
The claim also appears here, here, here and here. (For more instances of the claim, see the end of this report.)
But did Kalu die in Germany after an operation? We checked.
No evidence to support the claim
Kalu's posts on X , formerly known as Twitter, showed that he was in the United States in August 2024 when the claim that he had died in Germany began to circulate on social media.
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"I played host to my relatives Elder Eme Ekeoma and his wife, Lady Ngozi Ekeoma at my residence in Potomac, Maryland USA. They came by with their friends after a weeklong cruise in Miami, Florida. #OUK," he said in an X post on 28 August. The post included three photos of Kalu and his guests.
His posts on Facebook and X - here, here, here and here - revealed that Kalu was with other senators when the national assembly resumed after its annual recess on 24 September.
Kalu debunks the rumour in multiple videos
The rumours of his death surfaced when Kalu was speaking to journalists at the national assembly.
He said he had been on a two-month course at a university in the US and had not visited a hospital while there.
We found two other videos in which he denied the claim. He posted one on his Facebook page on 9 September and another on 17 September.
Recycled from 2018
The claim that Kalu died after surgery in Germany first circulated in 2018, when he was being treated for an undisclosed illness in a German hospital. At the time, he was also facing a N7.6 billion fraud trial in a Nigerian court.
Kalu was convicted and sentenced to 12 years in prison in December 2019. However, the supreme court nullified his trial and conviction in May 2020.
He returned to the senate after spending about six months in jail.
The claim that Kalu is dead also appears here, here and here.
