FACT-CHECK: Claim That Atiku Pledges to Jail Landlords Who Collect Rent if Elected President Is FALSE

By: Peter Emmanuel |

Claim

A viral post shared on X (formerly Twitter) by High Chief Lawrence Igbins Okoro, with the handle @HighChiefOkoro, claims that Atiku Abubakar, the 2027 presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), has pledged to jail landlords who collect rent if he is elected president.

The post had attracted over 902 comments, 31,000 reposts, 1,000 likes and 127 bookmarks at the time of this fact-check.

Full Text

 “BREAKING: Atiku Pledges 10-Year Jail Term for Landlords Who Collect Rent if Elected President.”

The publication suggested that Atiku had promised to end rent payments in Nigeria and jail landlords who continue to collect rent if elected in 2027.

The claim was also reshared by a lawyer, Ekene Aninze, Esq., who questioned the feasibility of the alleged promise and criticised Atiku over what he described as unrealistic political promises.

Verification

DNN FactCheck examined the viral newspaper-style graphic and searched for credible reports and official statements supporting the alleged claim.

The graphic was designed to resemble the Nigerian Tribune newspaper. The viral graphic and the authentic publication, including the use of “The Daily Tribune” instead of Nigerian Tribune, differences in typography and other elements of the newspaper’s layout. It also found no credible report confirming that Atiku made the alleged statement.

The claim was subsequently denied by Abdul Rasheeth, Special Assistant to Atiku Abubakar. In a disclaimer shared on X, Rasheeth said Atiku’s team had been alerted to a fabricated statement falsely attributed to him, claiming:

Rasheeth described the statement as entirely false, saying it did not represent Atiku’s views or policy position. He urged the public to disregard the claim and rely on statements issued through Atiku’s official communication channels.

The Nigerian Tribune also issued a disclaimer through its official X account, denying that it published the report attributed to the newspaper.

Verdict

FALSE

What We Found

DNN FactCheck found no credible evidence that Atiku Abubakar promised to abolish rent payments in Nigeria or pledged to jail landlords who collect rent if elected president.

The claim originated from a fabricated newspaper-style graphic designed to appear as a report by Nigerian Tribune. The inconsistencies in the graphic, the absence of the alleged report from the newspaper’s authentic publication and the lack of credible evidence supporting the statement all undermine the claim.

Atiku’s media aide, Abdul Rasheeth, expressly disowned the statement, describing it as fabricated and urging Nigerians to disregard it.

The Nigerian Tribune’s own disclaimer further confirms that the publication attributed to the newspaper was not genuine.

The lawyer, Ekene Aninze, Esq., who reshared the claim, criticised the alleged policy and questioned how it could work within Nigeria’s economic realities. However, his comments are opinions about the claim and do not constitute evidence that Atiku actually made the statement.

Conclusion

The claim that Atiku Abubakar pledged to jail landlords who collect rent if elected president is false.

The purported newspaper report is fabricated and was not published by Nigerian Tribune.

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