IN SHORT: A message circulating on Facebook claims that the former chief justice of Nigeria, Olukayode Ariwoola, has been arrested in the United States. The claim is false.
Several Facebook posts claim that the former chief justice of Nigeria Olukayode Ariwoola has been arrested in the United States.
The posts refer to Ariwoola as the judge that declared Bola Tinubu as the winner of Nigeria’s 2023 presidential election, and claim that US president Donald Trump ordered his arrest.
The posts include three images, of Ariwoola, Trump and a plane taking off from an airport.
The same claim appears here, here and here. (Note: See more instances at the end of this report.)
Ariwoola was appointed the chief justice of Nigeria in June 2022. He was in office during the 2023 general elections. However, he was not one of the five judges who looked at the petitions from the presidential election and declared that Tinubu was duly elected.
But has Ariwoola been arrested in the US? We checked.
The claim began to circulate two days after the Body of Benchers' first annual lecture in Nigeria’s capital Abuja on 26 March 2025. Ariwoola, who is the vice president of the body, was at that event.
The Body of Benchers is a professional body responsible for the formal call to the bar and for disciplining lawyers in Nigeria.
Ariwoola was photographed among officials of the body who presented an award to the minister of the Federal Capital...
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