No, Nigeria's president Bola Tinubu is not in released Epstein files
IN SHORT: According to a report circulating on Facebook, the name of Nigeria's president, Bola Tinubu, appears in the infamous Epstein files, which include reported evidence of child sex trafficking and other criminal activities. There is no evidence that Tinubu's name is there.
"Breaking News: President Bola Tinubu's name reportedly appears in documents linked to the Jeffrey Epstein case."
That's the headline of posts styled like a news report circulating on Facebook in Nigeria.
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The report reads:
President Bola Tinubu's name has been mentioned in recently released documents related to the late financier Jeffrey Epstein. However, the appearance of a name in the files does not imply wrongdoing, and there is currently no evidence linking the Nigerian president to any criminal activity or to Epstein's private island.As of the time of this report, no official confirmation or detailed clarification has been issued regarding the context in which the name appeared.
The claim also appears here and here.
Jeffrey Epstein was a US financier who cultivated relationships with high-profile figures, both in the US and internationally.
He first faced criminal consequences in June 2008, when he pleaded guilty in the US state of Florida to soliciting prostitution from a minor under a controversial plea agreement that drew sustained public criticism for its leniency.
In July 2019, federal prosecutors charged Epstein with sex trafficking minors. He pleaded not guilty but died in August 2019 while in jail awaiting trial. His death was ruled a suicide.
Epstein's longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted in 2021 of sex trafficking and related conspiracy charges. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
In parallel, courts have unsealed substantial volumes of documents tied to civil litigation and related proceedings, materials commonly referred to as the "Epstein files". The records include depositions, witness statements and references to numerous individuals.
On 30 January 2026, the US Department of Justice published over 3 million additional pages in response to the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which was signed into law by US president Donald Trump on 19 November 2025.
A press release by the department said that more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images were included in this, bringing the total release to nearly 3.5 million pages.
Some prominent figures whose names appear in the released Epstein files have publicly denied wrongdoing.
Is Nigerian president Bola Tinubu's name in the released documents? We checked.
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Pattern of misinformation
The posts contain links labelled "full details," but they redirect to unrelated websites. Treat any link that does not lead to a credible source with caution.
These follow the pattern of posts Africa Check has found to be false in previous fact-checks.
Also, some of the posts were made on Facebook pages that have a history of posting false and misleading information.
Tinubu's name not in the files
The documents released by the US justice department contain over 300 names, including some of the richest and most powerful in the world.
There has been extensive media coverage on the matter. If Tinubu's name were in the files, it would have made the news.
However, a search of "Bola Tinubu" in the Epstein Library on the US Department of Justice website returned no results.
There is no evidence that the Nigerian president's name is in the released files. The claim is false.
