A graphic posted widely on Facebook has a quote attributed to Kenyan lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi, supporting one of the leading presidential candidates in the country’s August 2022 general elections.
The graphic looks as though it was published by news outlet the Nation.
“Now that Raila has picked Karua, criminals and looters of public funds have nowhere to hide. Those pilfering public funds have a reason be very afraid of Senior Counsel Martha Karua as DP and Justice Minister,” the quote reads, next to a photo of Abdullahi.
“Raila” refers to opposition leader Raila Odinga and “Karua” to former justice minister Martha Karua, who Odinga picked as his running mate and designated deputy president, or “DP”, on 16 May.
Abdullahi is a senior counsel, a privileged position in the legal field in Kenya. He has over 1.6 million followers on Twitter, is a publisher of an influential law magazine, and his views make news in the country.
The graphic was also published here and here.
Abdullahi has previously vowed to not support Odinga’s presidential bid. But has he made an about-turn and did the Nation publish this quote?
We checked.
No evidence of quote
We scanned the quick response code (QR code) in the graphic, but it led to an unrelated website and not the Nation news site.
We also couldn’t find any evidence on Abdullahi’s Twitter timeline that he said the quote and it wasn’t reported by any reputable news outlet.
The Nation labelled the graphic “fake” on Twitter and advised its readers not to fall for fake news.
“FAKE NEWS ALERT! Please be advised that this card doing rounds on social media is fake. Do not fall for fake news,” the Nation posted.
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