TheCable

You must have seen the picture on social media — former president Olusegun Obasanjo packing his brown agbada with his left hand and walking ahead of Muhammad Sanusi II, the emir of Kano, who is dressed in his full regalia.

The picture started trending a few days after the decimation of Kano emirate by Abdullahi Ganduje, the governor of Kano state, who is locked in a battle with the emir reportedly as a fall-out of the 2019 elections in which Sanusi was believed to have opposed Ganduje’s re-election.

The Asantehene marked his 20th year on the throne in April 2019, with Obasanjo and Sanusi in attendance

CLAIM: According to several posts on social media, some in video format, Obasanjo visited Sanusi at his palace in Kano. Some said it was in solidarity over the Ganduje onslaught and to “strategise” on stopping the split of the kingdom. There is a three-minute video in circulation putting the date of the visit as May 21, 2019 “after Obasanjo had complained about the Fulanisation and Islamisation of Nigeria”.

FACT: While TheCable can confirm that Obasanjo did not visit Kano or the emir’s place in the last two months, the picture being circulated as proof was taken in Ghana on April 21, 2019 at the 20th coronation anniversary of Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the Asantehene of Asante.

The event took place at the Dwabirem of the Manhyia Palace. Other dignitaries in attendance are Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the president of Ghana, and Michael Ashwin Satyandre Adhin, the vice president of Suriname.

CONCLUSION: This is fake news.