TimesNG Fact-Check: Did Oloriegbe and Ilorin Emirate Endorse Saliu Mustapha for Governor and Tinubu for President in 2027?

TimesNG Fact-Check: Did Oloriegbe and Ilorin Emirate Endorse Saliu Mustapha for Governor and Tinubu for President in 2027?

THE CLAIM
Reports circulating on social media and online news platforms claimed that a prominent politician named Oloriegbe and the Ilorin Emirate Council had endorsed APC governorship aspirant Senator Saliu Mustapha for the 2027 Kwara State governorship, and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for a second term in office.

The headlines Oloriegbe Endorses Saliu Mustapha for Governor” “— “Ilorin Emirate backs Tinubu, endorses Mustapha for gov”  gained traction in the context of an intensifying political contest for the APC governorship ticket in Kwara State. A former Senator, Dr. Ibrahim Yahaya Oloriegbe — a well-known medical doctor and politician representing Kwara Central — had recently declared his own interest in the same gubernatorial seat, making the reports particularly charged.

BACKGROUND
Both Dr. Ibrahim Yahaya Oloriegbe and Senator Saliu Mustapha are prominent political figures from the Ilorin Emirate and hold — or have held — the office of Senator representing Kwara Central Senatorial District at different times. The political rivalry between their camps has made any mention of endorsements particularly sensitive and consequential.

The Ilorin Emirate, the ancient Islamic emirate at the heart of Kwara State, commands strong political symbolism. An endorsement attributed to its institutions or leading figures carries significant weight in the state’s electoral calculus. It was therefore necessary to interrogate the substance behind these headlines.
VERIFICATION
The TimesNG Factcheck team went beyond the headlines to read the full body of the stories. Both reports, properly read, reveal a more nuanced picture that the headlines obscure.

First, on the identity of ‘Oloriegbe’: The individual who announced the endorsement is Dr. Yakub Yahaya Oloriegbe, National Coordinator of the Ilorin Emirate Political Advisory Council (IEPAC). He is not the same person as Senator Dr. Ibrahim Yahaya Oloriegbe — the former lawmaker, accomplished medical doctor, and health advocate who is himself contesting for the Kwara governorship. Though cousins whose fathers were brothers and who share a family surname, the two men occupy entirely different levels of public life and political standing. Conflating them — as the headlines effectively did — is factually wrong and potentially manipulative.

Second, on the authority of IEPAC: The media reports described IEPAC as “the apex body of elders and stakeholders in Kwara Central Senatorial District.” TimesNG‘s findings challenge this characterisation. Available records indicate that IEPAC was only formed in 2025 and, significantly, sought recognition by paying a courtesy visit to the secretariat of the Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union (IEDPU) — the most powerful and broadly representative socio-cultural organisation in the Ilorin Emirate, and the acknowledged umbrella body for all descendants of the emirate.

During that visit, IEDPU leadership did not confer any special status on IEPAC. https://justeventonline.com/iedpu-urges-patriotic-politicking-welcomes-iepac-formation/ Instead, the IEDPU charged all Ilorin Emirate indigenes active in politics to prioritise the collective interest of the community above personal or partisan considerations. The leader of the IEPAC delegation, Malam Umar Yusuf Aiyelabegan, stated that the council would pursue its objectives through wide consultation and peaceful means — language that itself signals a body still seeking legitimacy rather than one exercising established authority.

A body formed in 2025 cannot credibly claim to be the apex representative of the Ilorin Emirate’s elders and stakeholders, an institution whose political and cultural tradition spans centuries. IEPAC’s self-description as an apex body is disputed and unsubstantiated.
CONCLUSION
The ‘Oloriegbe’ behind the endorsement is Dr. Yakub Yahaya Oloriegbe, a retired former principal of a government secondary school in Ilorin, acting in his capacity as coordinator of IEPAC — a newly formed council with no established standing as an apex emirate body. He is the cousin, not the political alter ego, of Senator Dr. Ibrahim Yahaya Oloriegbe, the well-known medical doctor who is himself an APC governorship aspirant in Kwara State and a known supporter of President Tinubu.

Similarly, IEPAC — formed in 2025 — does not represent the institutional voice of the Ilorin Emirate’s elders and stakeholders. That standing belongs to the IEDPU and other long-established bodies of the emirate.

The headlines, as written, created a false and misleading impression: that a prominent politician called Oloriegbe had endorsed his rival Saliu Mustapha, and that the Ilorin Emirate — as an institution — had formally backed Mustapha and Tinubu for 2027.

⚠  VERDICT: MISLEADING
The claim that the popular politician Oloriegbe endorsed Saliu Mustapha for governor, and that the Ilorin Emirate endorsed Mustapha and Tinubu for 2027, is MISLEADING. The Oloriegbe who made the endorsement is a retired school principal and cousin of the well-known senator, not the senator himself. The group behind the endorsement, IEPAC, was only formed in 2025 and cannot credibly claim to speak as the apex body of Ilorin Emirate elders and stakeholders.

‎TimesNG Fact-Check Desk applies open-source intelligence, official statements, cross-verification across multiple credible sources, and direct source confirmation. To report a claim for fact-checking, contact: [email protected]

TimesNG Fact-Check Desk | [email protected] | www.prnigeria.com