There are scores of fake quotes about Nigerians and Africans attributed to Donald Trump that have fooled many otherwise intelligent people. On April 9, 2016 I wrote an article titled, ‘Trump is a Bigot but He Never Said Anything against Nigerians to dispel the ridiculously false statements Trump allegedly made against Nigeria.
On November 11, 2016, BBC also did a story titled, ‘Mythbuster: What Donald Trump didn’t say about Africa, which basically said Trump never said anything about Africans. In spite of this, prominent, educated Nigerians continue to fall victim to fake news stories about what Trump allegedly said about Nigerians and Africans.
Even Professor Wole Soyinka, in a recent write-up, appeared to believe the fake quote attributed to Trump about Nigerians and Africans. So does the prolific northern Nigerian writer Dr. Aliyu Tilde, who repeated the falsehood in a recent Facebook status update.
In view of the resilience of the fake Trump quotes about Nigerian – and Africans – I have decided to republish my article on this issue in hope that more people will learn that Trump never said anything about Nigerians or Africans. Enjoy it:
Republican presidential front runner Donald Trump has become the favorite punching bag of Nigerians on the Internet. All manner of bizarre things are now attributed to him on dodgy, fringe Nigerian websites, and lots of credulous Nigerians believe them.
Here is a random sample of headlines from Nigerian websites: ‘Trump to Buhari – You Say Biafra Is a Joke, Compare Your Change with Corruption,’ ‘WHERE IS THE CHANGE!!! DONALD TRUMP INSULTS NIGERIA ADMINISTRATION,’ ‘Donald Trump throws heavy blow at Nigerian leaders.’
In internet jargon, this is called clickbait-that is, intentionally false, provocative, or hyperbolic headlines designed to compel people to click on links so as to attract web traffic and advertising dollars to websites. Donald Trump has become the biggest anchor for clickbait on fraudulent Nigerian websites.
Perhaps the most widely spread hoax about Trump in Nigerian cyber sphere is the “If-I-win-you-leave” meme. It’s been shared by traditional news sites like Leadership, AIT, and by many otherwise clearheaded social media influencers.
Well, Donald Trump has never ever said he will deport Nigerians in America if he gets elected president. That was an Internet hoax that began life as a satire and given wings by gullible, simpleminded Nigerian Internet users.
In a January 8, 2016 post, Snopes.com, the American-based fact-checking website, said the quote attributed to Trump was false. “[…] Trump did not have a rally in Wichita, Kansas, as alleged by the above-quoted article, at any point in January 2016. The quote has also not been recorded by any major publications at any point. In sum, this is nothing more than yet another fictional quote falsely attributed to a politician,” Snopes said.
I shared this clarification on my Facebook timeline on January 18 and hoped that people would stop sharing this transparently fake news. However, several Nigerians continue to peddle the falsehood that Donald Trump said he would deport Nigerians should he get elected president of the United States.
