NRTC CHECK: Buhari didn’t order EFCC to raid Tinubu’s house

Claim:

Buhari orders EFCC to raid Tinubu’s house.

 

A screenshot of the claim.

A widely circulated claim stated that President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFFC) to raid the house of the All Progressive Congress (APC) presidential candidate in the Saturday 25th of February election.

The claim which was published by https://igbotimesmagazine.online/2023/02/18/breaking-news-president-buhari-ordered-efcc-to-raid-tinubus-house-and-400-billion-of-the-new-money-was-recovered-from-his-underground-house/ stated that N400 billion of the new currency was recovered from Tinubu underground house. 

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The website added that investigations are still going on as to which bank manager made such money accessible to Tinubu, saying the APC presidential candidate holding 400 billion alone is synonymous with holding the entire money printed for the whole of Nigeria.

A click on the link shows that there’s no other information provided about the claim. Further checks show that the website is not safe.

The screenshots of where we were directed to after clicking on the website.

President Buhari and Ahmed Tinubu 

President Muhammadu Buhari was elected in 2015 under the umbrella of the All Progressive Congress(APC) for his first tenure and was reelected in 2019 under the same platform. 

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Buhari was a former retired Nigerian Army major general who served as the country’s military head of state from 31 December 1983 to 27 August 1985, after taking power in a military coup d’état. 

However, Bola Ahmed Tinubu was a Nigerian accountant and politician who served as the Governor of Lagos State from 1999 to 2007 and Senator for Lagos West during the brief Third Republic. 

In June 2022, he won the Presidential primary election of APC after defeating the incumbent Vice-president, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, and others to clinch the party ticket as a candidate in the 2023 Nigerian presidential election. 

Tinubu will be contesting with former Vice-president of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar of the People Democratic Party, PDP, Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi, and fifteen others in the Saturday, February 25th, 2023 election.

The election will be held across the 36 states in the country including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. 

What We Know

NRTC CHECK on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission website and social media pages found out that the claim was false and meant to misinform the Nigerians as the election is six days away. 

A copy of the EFCC statement obtained by NRTC CHECK signed by its spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren on Sunday in Abuja denied raiding the home of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu.

EFCC’s spokesperson said the claim of raiding Tinubu’s house was not true and enjoined the public to disregard the report, labeling it as fake news. 

The commission further stated that N400 billion was not recovered from the APC presidential candidate’s house. 

The statement read, “The attention of the EFCC has been drawn to a report circulating in the social media, claiming that operatives of the Commission raided the home of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, standard-bearer of APC, in the forthcoming presidential election and recovered a humongous sum of N400 billion.

“The Commission wishes to state that no such operation was carried out by the EFCC.

“The public is enjoined to disregard the report as fake news.”

NRTC CHECK after the claim was published showed that President Buhari on his social media pages called on Nigerians to vote for Ahmed Tinubu on Saturday, saying he will build on his achievements.

Findings: False

NRTC CHECK shows that the claim that President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) to raid Tinubu’s house is false and meant to deceive Nigerians.