By james art Claim: A Facebook user has claimed that Femi Fani-Kayode (FFK) and Reno Omokri have been appointed Finance Minister and CBN Governor respectively.
Verdict: False. FFK and Reno Omokri did not get appointments as Minister of Finance and Governor of the CBN. Channels TV and Punch reports on the President’s recent appointment as a minister did not include former government officials mentioned by the plaintiff.
Full text
On Wednesday, October 23, 2024, President Bola Tinubu dismissed five government ministers from his cabinet, reappointed ten and appointed seven new ministers.
Following the recent ministerial reshuffle, a Facebook user, Ikechukwu Anaba, has claimed via parent app Meta that former Minister of Tourism, Femi Fani-Kayode and former Aide to the President, Reno Omokri, have been appointed Ministers of Finance and Central Bank, Governor and Governor respectively.
The caption of the post reads: “BREAKING: Tinubu appoints FFK and Reno Omokri as finance minister and CBN governor respectively.”
The shared post generated about nine likes and six comments as of Saturday, October 26, 2024.
Similar posts have been shared on Facebook and X, as seen here and here.
Due to the post’s potential to spread misinformation, DUBAWA confirmed its authenticity.
Checking
DUBAWA reviewed the report by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, which lists the 48 ministries and their ministers. But Mr. Fani-Kayode’s name was not on the list.
Channels Television reported that the newly appointed ministers are Bianca Odumegu-Ojukwu as Minister of State and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nentawe Yilwatda as Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Maigari Dingyadi as Minister of Labor and Employment, Jumoke Oduwole as Minister of Industry, Idi Maiha as Minister of Livestock Development, Yusuf Atta as Minister of State, Housing and Urban Development and Suwaiba Ahmad as Minister of State, Education.
Punch also reported a similar development and added that the appointment was part of the much anticipated cabinet reshuffle of the Tinubu administration that has been in office for over a year.
However, none of the details in the report inform that former government officials have received any of the senior government positions mentioned by the plaintiff.
The Federal Ministry of Finance mentions that the current Minister of Finance is Wale Edun.
We also checked the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) website and saw that Olayemi Cardoso is the current governor.
Also, DUBAWA checked the official X handle of the CBN but found no news on the appointment of a new governor of the central bank.
We also checked whether Mr. Fani-Kayode and Mr. Omokri have recently held senior government positions since the new ministerial appointments. However, there is no news of such a development.
Conclusion
The statement is false. There is no report or evidence that Mr. Fani-Kayode and Mr. Omokri were appointed Finance Minister and CBN Governor respectively.