The media team of the Sultan of Sokoto has dismissed as false and dangerous a viral social media post that sought to link the monarch to the security crisis in Benue State, warning that the material was designed to inflame religious and ethnic tensions at a sensitive moment. In a statement titled “Re: False and Misleading Claims Circulating on Social Media,” the team said the image being circulated online was fake, likely generated with artificial intelligence, and part of a broader attempt to drag the Sultan into issues unrelated to his office.
According to the statement, signed by Prince Bashir Adefaka, the false post was circulating across WhatsApp groups and other platforms under the caption “leaked photo of Governor Hyacinth Alia worshipping the Sultan of Sokoto.” The Sultan’s media team said the content tried to introduce a divisive religious and ethnic narrative into the Benue crisis, even though the Sultan has no connection to the events being referenced. It described the post as “mischievous and dangerous” and said the accompanying commentary was capable of undermining national unity and worsening insecurity.
The statement stressed that the Sultan, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, has for nearly two decades consistently promoted peace, interfaith harmony and national cohesion. It pointed to his roles as President-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Chairman of the National Traditional Rulers Council of Nigeria, Co-Chairman of the Nigerian Inter-Religious Council, and Co-President of Religions for Peace as evidence of a public record rooted in dialogue rather than division. The team said efforts to tarnish that legacy through fabricated content should be rejected by all well-meaning Nigerians.
It also underlined a religious point aimed at rebutting the content directly. The media team said the image was not only fake, but fundamentally inconsistent with Islamic teaching, which reserves prostration as an act of worship solely for God. That, it said, made the viral claim doubly false: both visually fabricated and doctrinally implausible.
The intervention comes against a wider backdrop of concern over online falsehoods involving the Sultan and other high-profile figures. The monarch has previously warned about the destabilising role of social media misinformation in Nigeria, and fact-checkers have repeatedly documented AI-generated or manipulated political images in the country. In its latest statement, the Sultan’s media team called on the Federal Government and security agencies to act against those spreading harmful falsehoods and urged religious and community leaders to promote responsible communication online.
