{"id":5786,"date":"2024-11-01T11:10:40","date_gmt":"2024-11-01T11:10:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/1307007.us31.myftpupload.com\/?p=5786"},"modified":"2024-11-27T11:34:34","modified_gmt":"2024-11-27T11:34:34","slug":"viral-whatsapp-message-announcing-sultan-of-sokotos-death-is-fake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enspirefx.com\/royale\/viral-whatsapp-message-announcing-sultan-of-sokotos-death-is-fake\/","title":{"rendered":"Viral WhatsApp message announcing Sultan of Sokoto\u2019s death is Fake"},"content":{"rendered":"

Claim: <\/b>Sultan of Sokoto has died in London\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:<\/b> WhatsApp<\/span><\/p>\n

Verdict: FALSE<\/b><\/p>\n

Researched by Hamza Ibrahim<\/b><\/p>\n

A WhatsApp message announcing the death of the Sultan of Sokoto, <\/span>Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III, was widely circulated on the messaging platform in Nigeria <\/span>on October 29, 2024.<\/span><\/p>\n

Aside from WhatsApp, the message was <\/span>circulated<\/span><\/a> on other <\/span>social media<\/span><\/a> platforms, including <\/span>Facebook<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>X<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The message labeled as \u201cforwarded many times\u201d by WhatsApp shows a photo of the Sultan of Sokoto with a caption that read in part; \u201cSultan of Sokoto is dead. He died few hours ago in his\u00a0 London apartment after suffering penises infection.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The message started with the Arabic heading \u201cINNA LILLAHI WA\u2019INNA ILAIHIRAJI\u2019UN!\u201d which is a Quranic verse that means \u201cWe are from Allah and unto Him is our return.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The caption also praises the role of the Sultan in national life and adds a link that ostensibly would lead to a story on the incident but FactSpace Nigeria observed that the link when clicked led users to a betting website.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Fig 1 – Screenshot of the viral message<\/em><\/p>\n

Who is the Sultan of Sokoto?<\/b><\/p>\n

He is an influential Muslim cleric based in northwestern Sokoto State where the first Islamic Caliphate in the country was established. He is among the eminent religious leaders who advise Nigerian presidents.<\/span><\/p>\n

He is regarded widely as the leader of all Muslims in Nigeria hence his title \u201cSarki Musulmi,\u201d which is Hausa for the \u2018King of Muslims.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2006, Sa\u2019ad left his role as Nigeria\u2019s military attach\u00e9 to Pakistan and following the tragic death of his brother, was coronated as new Sultan. In his current role, he leads the Sultanate Council of Sokoto and the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs in Nigeria (SCIAN).<\/span><\/p>\n

Fact-check\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Investigations by FactSpace Nigeria about the viral death claim of the Sultan established that it was false.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Sultanate Council in an October 29 press release signed by Aminu Haliru, the Public Relations Officer of the Council, described the claim as nothing but fake and unfounded.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The release added: \u201cHis Eminence, the Sultan has not travelled abroad at the moment. He is in the country attending official functions in Kaduna.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Fig 2 – Copy of the Sokoto Sultanate Council statement<\/em><\/p>\n

Earlier, a group known as Muslim Public Affairs Centre (MPAC) had also <\/span>debunked the news<\/span>.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

A <\/span>statement by MPAC <\/span><\/a>read in part, \u201cWe wish to notify the Ummah and address recent unfounded rumors concerning the supposed passing of His Eminence, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa\u2019ad Abubakar III. We unequivocally affirm that, Alhamdulillah, the Sultan is alive, in good health, and fully engaged in his esteemed responsibilities as a spiritual guide to millions in Nigeria and beyond.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Verdict\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

The news that His Eminence, the Sultan of Sokoto has died is fake.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Claim: Sultan of Sokoto has died in London\u00a0 Source: WhatsApp Verdict: FALSE Researched by Hamza Ibrahim A WhatsApp…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":5871,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"coauthors":[504],"class_list":["post-5786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":41,"label":"Featured"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/enspirefx.com\/royale\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Sultan-Saad-Abubakar.jpg",999,601,false],"author_info":{"display_name":"Shaban Abdur Rahman Alfa","author_link":"https:\/\/enspirefx.com\/royale\/author\/shaban-abdur-rahman-alfa\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":41,"name":"Featured","slug":"featured","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":41,"taxonomy":"category","description":"Featured posts","parent":0,"count":144,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":41,"category_count":144,"category_description":"Featured posts","cat_name":"Featured","category_nicename":"featured","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/enspirefx.com\/royale\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/enspirefx.com\/royale\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/enspirefx.com\/royale\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enspirefx.com\/royale\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enspirefx.com\/royale\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5786"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/enspirefx.com\/royale\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5786\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6005,"href":"https:\/\/enspirefx.com\/royale\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5786\/revisions\/6005"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enspirefx.com\/royale\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/enspirefx.com\/royale\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enspirefx.com\/royale\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enspirefx.com\/royale\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5786"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enspirefx.com\/royale\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=5786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}