FACT CHECK: Is The Richest Person In Sudan A Nigerian?
On Monday, the chairperson of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDO), and Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Abike Dabiri-Erewa claimed that the richest person in Sudan was a Nigerian citizen.
Abike said this as Nigeria attempts to evacuate its citizens from Sudan against the backdrop of an armed conflict between rival factions of the military government of Sudan.
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Commenting on the plight of Nigerian students in Sudan, the NIDCOM chair said there are more than three million Nigerians in the North African country and asserted that the richest person in the country is a Nigerian.
In another tweet, Dabiri-Erewa claimed that while Nigerians focused more on the United States and the United Kingdom, the richest person in Sudan is a Nigerian.
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However, checks by THE WHISTLER revealed that the claim of the NIDCOM chair was incorrect.
According to global finance magazine, Forbes, the richest person in the embattled-North African country is Sudanese-British businessman, Mo Ibrahim with an estimated wealth of $1.2bn, making him the 2,391st richest person in the world.
A compilation of Sudan’s top five wealthiest people by Billionaires Africa, a platform that focuses on African capitalism listed the top 5 richest persons in the country to include; Mo Ibrahim, Osama Daoud Abdellatif, Amin El-Nefeidi, Ahmed Abdellatif and Salih Abdelrahman Yagoub.
Further checks by this website showed that none of the aforementioned billionaires have Nigerian origins, neither are they married to Nigerian partners.
Therefore, the claim made by the NIDCOM chair that the richest person in Sudan is a Nigerian is INCORRECT.
