By Saheed Ibrahim
Claim: Multiple online accounts claim that American President, Donald Trump, has unveiled 25 names of Nigerian politicians with stolen public funds in US banks.
Full Text
Misinformation about political figures and corruption allegations is common on social media, often spreading rapidly without credible evidence. A recent claim making rounds online alleges that former U.S. President Donald Trump has revealed a list of 25 Nigerian politicians accused of embezzling public funds and stalling the country’s economic growth.
The post went viral on social media, particularly on Facebook and WhatsApp.
Top on the list is the former Nigeria Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, who was alleged to have stored $12.9 billion in JP Morgan Bank New York, followed by Bukola Saraki with an alleged $2.5 billion in American Express Bank New York.
Others include Bala Mohammad, Wells Fargo Bank San Francisco $2.3b; Ahmed Idris, CitiGroup Bank New York $2.1b; Nadir El-Rufai CitiGroup Bank New York, $1.6b; Femi Adesina, US Bancorp Bank Minnesota $1.9b; Turkur Buatai BB&T Bank North California $1.9b; Ayodele Fayose Ally Financial Bank $3.5b; and Wike Nyesome American Bank $5.2b, among others.
The claim reads in part, “WOW.. I’m speechless. Donald Trump have revealed how Nigeria politicians killed the country economy. Americans government unveils 25 names of Nigerian richest politicians, that stock the public funds they stole in USA. Here are the names of the politicians and their bank.(sic)
“What a shame.see how PDP and APC are fighting crime and corruption. Forward to many Nigerians let them see how the wicked politicians have robed us and still robbing and led us to recession and hardship. Negative change has killed Nigeria. Nigerian youths must decide 2027
“Please share as you read…”(sic)
The post can be found on Facebook here. It was also forwarded many times on WhatsApp.
Screenshot of the claim on Facebook
Given the virality of the claim and its relevance to Nigeria’s socio-economic situation, we conducted this fact-check.
Verification
We conducted a keyword search, combining USA, 25 names of Nigerian richest politicians, stolen public funds, on Google. The results revealed that the claim, which had 4356k views, first surfaced online on the Nairaland forum in 2018 during Donald Trump’s four-year tenure as the 45th President of the United States.
It was also posted by Radio Biafra Freedom on September 15, 2019.
These findings indicate that it was an old claim recently recirculated on social media in Nigeria.
No credible local or international media organisation reported the claim.
We further checked the United States Government’s official website to confirm the claim. A keyword search on the website showed no result of such a claim.
Screenshot of the result of the keyword search on the US official website.
However, we observed that a similar viral video claim was fact-checked by Dubawa in 2022, debunking the claim as false.
Meanwhile, a press release by the United States Justice Department on January 10, 2025, announced that the United States has agreed to transfer approximately $52.88 million in forfeited assets to the Federal Republic of Nigeria in recognition of Nigeria’s assistance to the department in an investigation into corruption in the Nigerian oil industry.
Conclusion
Our investigation has shown that the claim that the American government has unveiled 25 names of the Nigeria’s richest politicians with stolen public funds in US banks is FALSE. The claim was not found on any credible source and it was earlier debunked to be false in 2022.