Tinubu's supporters are enraged as UberFacts publicizes the Nigerian president-elect's cocaine business to its global audience

Supporters of Nigeria's president-elect have taken to Twitter to express their outrage after UBerFacts, a reliable fact-checking platform, published Bola Tinubu's legal troubles with US authorities, which saw him forfeit $460,000 in ill-gotten gains from cocaine deals to the US government in 1993.

“In 1993, Bola Ahmed Tinubu surrendered $460,000 to the US government after a Chicago court found the income came from heroin trafficking,”

At midnight on Monday, UberFacts shared the information with its 13.5 million global audience. The platform included a People's Gazette article detailing Mr Tinubu's criminal run-in with foreign authorities.

The matter has irritated Mr Tinubu's team, as high-ranking members of his campaign team have remained silent — presumably deciding how best to respond and counter the post — while lower-level supporters have unleashed vitriol on UberFacts's Twitter account in an attempt to ridicule and discredit the platform.

The usual surrogates – Bayo Onanuga, Festus Keyamo, Femi Fani-Kayode, and Dele Alake – who are quick to jump at the slightest criticism of their principal have all so far kept studied silence, likely strategizing to counter UberFacts, as they did when celebrated Nigerian author Chimamanda Adichie asked US President Joe Biden not to congratulate Mr Tinubu on his questionable election victory last week.

“@uberfacts is actually @uberlies,” tweeted @KemPatriot, an APC loyalist. “If you have ever relied on @UberFacts for facts, it’s time to unfollow them, they are a pay per post organization, who post lies for th (sic) highest bidder.”

Another Trump supporter claimed UberFacts was a propaganda platform, despite the fact that The Gazette had published the full court documents.

Despite the fact that certified true copies of his money forfeiture are already in the public domain, Mr Tinubu insists that when he registered his presidential ambition with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) last year, he had no criminal record.

Throughout his campaign, the president-elect avoided discussing his haunting criminal past, and his supporters scorn anyone or any group who brings it up.

“Nonsense. That is my reaction,” Mr Onanuga told The Gazette Monday afternoon. “They keep recycling this matter. Who is Uber! Who is Uber! Please don’t spoil my day,” he stressed as he dismissed the matter.