The award-winning professor of History and African Diaspora Studies, Saheed Aderinto has refuted a Tweet made in his name, which had appeared to have embarrassed President-elect, Bola Tinubu, after the latter issued a congratulatory message to him.
Before the fake tweet emanated, both Bola Tinubu and Peter Obi had congratulated the Professor on his recent achievement.
The fake account which quoted the duo with comments, disparaged the candidate of the APC, Bola Tinubu, asking him to “restore our stolen mandate”, while it thanked Peter Obi, saying: “Thank you My President-elect”
However, Aderinto who won the 2023 Dan David Prize, on Monday said he only operates a Facebook account and had nothing to do with the Twitter account @AderintoO.
“It has come to my attention that a fake Twitter account has been opened in my name. I don’t have a Twitter account. And didn’t make those statements,” he said.
The Twitter handle which appears to be a parody account had sparked reactions after replying to Tinubu’s congratulatory message by saying he hoped the President-elect restores “stolen mandate”.
The controversial fake tweet generated over 2,577 retweets, 6845 likes and 749 comments.
“Thanks anyway for the recognition, I hope you restore Our stolen Mandate,” the parody account tweeted on Monday.
OgunWatch reports that that the parody account might Is operated by one of the supporters of Peter Obi as the response was favourable to their candidate because the tweets made out of there were subsequently retweeted by the Twitter accounts of Obi supporters.
A tweep popular for campaigning for Peter Obi on Twitter, Anambra 1st son with the handle “UchePOkoye” also endorsed the fake tweet by sharing screenshots of the fake tweets in question. His retweet generated over 2777 retweets and 6,845 likes.
OgunWatch also observed Peter Obi’s account had earlier tweeted the congratulatory message with a wrong picture of professor Saheed Aderinto but corrected it later on
Meanwhile, the selection committee for the Dan David Prize praised Aderinto’s work “for situating African history at the cutting edge of diverse literatures in the history of sexuality, nonhumans, and violence, noting that it is exceptional to see a single person leading scholarship in all of these fields.”
