Back to Africa Check

No, suspended top cop didn’t threaten to expose government minister and presidential adviser

A post shared on Facebook in Nigeria on 20 July 2021 claims that a suspended high-ranking police officer threatened to “expose” two senior members of government. 

The Facebook post reads: “If Nigeria government allow FBI to arrest me, I will expose Lai Muhammad and Femi Adesina says Aba Kyari.”

Abba Kyari is a deputy commissioner and a member of the inspector general’s intelligence response team at Nigeria’s police force headquarters in Abuja.

Kyari is being investigated by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation for allegedly making an arrest at the request of Instagram influencer Ramon Abbas, popularly known as “HushPuppi”. 

Abbas has pleaded guilty to money laundering, fraud and other offences in a US federal court, after being arrested in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and extradited to the US. 

Lai Mohammed is Nigeria’s current minister of information and culture, while Femi Adesina is a special adviser on media and publicity to president Muhammadu Buhari.

The post has been shared more than 200 times but some commenters questioned the authenticity of the quote. One Facebook user said: “How true is this news? Did he really say that?”

We investigated.

Kyari_False

No mention on Kyari’s official accounts

There are no details in the Facebook post of where or when Kyari allegedly made the threat. Lack of such detail is often a red flag that something on social media is fabricated.

There have also been no reports in the mainstream media of Kyari saying any such thing, which would be expected if it were true.

Kyari hasn’t made any statement like it on his official Facebook page or his verified Instagram account where he regularly posts about his life and career.

There is no evidence the suspended deputy commissioner of police threatened Mohammed or Adesina.

Republish our content for free

Please complete this form to receive the HTML sharing code.

For publishers: what to do if your post is rated false

A fact-checker has rated your Facebook or Instagram post as “false”, “altered”, “partly false” or “missing context”. This could have serious consequences. What do you do?

Click on our guide for the steps you should follow.

Publishers guide

Africa Check teams up with Facebook

Africa Check is a partner in Meta's third-party fact-checking programme to help stop the spread of false information on social media.

The content we rate as “false” will be downgraded on Facebook and Instagram. This means fewer people will see it.

You can also help identify false information on Facebook. This guide explains how.

Add new comment

Restricted HTML

  • Allowed HTML tags: <a href hreflang> <em> <strong> <cite> <blockquote cite> <code> <ul type> <ol start type> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <h2 id> <h3 id> <h4 id> <h5 id> <h6 id>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.
limit: 600 characters

Want to keep reading our fact-checks?

We will never charge you for verified, reliable information. Help us keep it that way by supporting our work.

Become a newsletter subscriber

Support independent fact-checking in Africa.