By Oluwaseye Ogunsanya
Claim
A write-up analysing the motives of three presidential candidates in the 2023 elections – Atiku Abubakar of PDP, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of APC and Peter Obi of Labour party, has been widely shared on social media. The write-up is said to have been written by former governor of the central bank of Nigeria (CBN), Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.
Full Text
A write-up analysing the motives of three presidential candidates in the 2023 elections – Atiku Abubakar of PDP, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of APC and Peter Obi of Labour party – has been widely shared on social media.
The post purportedly written by former governor of the central bank of Nigeria (CBN), Sanusi Lamido Sanusi said none of the candidates are in the race for the money.
The opening paragraph reads “One peculiar thing about the top three guys battling it out for the 001 seat, is that neither of them is there for the money”
It went on to claim that PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar just wants to answer President by all means having “milked Nigeria well enough systematically”. It also added that he lives in Dubai full-time and does not care so much about the struggle of the average Nigerian but only comes around every 4 years to contest for the presidency.
For the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, the post claimed that he just wants to fulfill his “lifetime political ambition of answering President even if he dies the next day after swearing in” adding that he been controlling Lagos treasury since 2003 and would properly share Nigeria like cake to his boys. “At the end of the day he he would teach us what being fantastically corrupt actually means,” the post reads.
About Peter Obi, Labour Party’s presidential candidate, the publication claimed that the former Anambra state governor is quite content with himself and does not need “your money for anything”. It added that Obi wants to be president to reset things and lay the foundation for systematic governance in the future. “Win or lose, he would most likely not contest again” the post reads.
The post, which was published on June 19 by CeleSylv updates with close to 70,000 followers has garnered 2,000 likes 1,500 comments and 3,400 shares as at the time of writing this.
Similarly, a news platform, 9news Nigeria published the write-up here. It has also been reposted and shared by many users across various social media platforms especially Twitter here, here, here and here
Verdict
The publication is false. It was not written by Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.
Verification
An online search by FactCheckElection revealed that the statement said to have been written by the former CBN governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi has not been published by a credible media platform. In addition, Sanusi said the post is fake and not from him.
“The statement is not from me. It is fake” Sanusi told TheCable.