A Twitter user, @UchePOkoye, claimed that Bola Tinubu promised the Supreme Council for Sharia that the Sharia rule would be extended to the South if he becomes President in 2023.
The tweet attached a screenshot traced to a report by Vanguard Newspaper. The tweet got about 1,300 retweets and over 2000 likes.
The Findings:
This is FALSE!
The screenshot posted by the tweet to support his claim that Tinubu intends to extend sharia to the South was from a report by Vanguard Newspaper, in which Tinubu reportedly urged Muslim leaders to create departments of Political Affairs.
The report was published on March 19, 2022, months before Tinubu emerged as a Presidential candidate.
Meanwhile, Tinubu was not at the said event. Instead, he was reportedly represented by the Asiwaju Musulumi (a leader of Muslims) of Yorubaland, Edo and Delta states, Chief Tunde Badmus.
According to the report by Vanguard, and published by other media outfits, the department, as explained by Badmus at the Islamic event was “to create political awareness among the faithful towards producing a Muslim President in 2023.”
Conclusion:
Tinubu never promised to extend Sharia to the South, instead, according to the report quoted in the claim, he appealed to an Islamic association, the Supreme Council for Sharia, to create a political department, to mobilize the support of Muslims for him, and other Muslims vying for political offices.
