Tinubu Not in Epstein Files, Africa Check Confirms

Africa Check, a nonpartisan fact-checking organization based on the African continent, confirmed that Nigerian President Bola Tinubu does not appear in documents released as part of the Jeffrey Epstein case, publishing a report titled “No, Nigeria’s president Bola Tinubu is not in released Epstein files.”¹

The fact-check was prompted by posts circulating on Facebook that claimed Tinubu’s name appeared in the Epstein files, which contain reported evidence of child sex trafficking and other criminal activities.¹ Africa Check determined the claim was false after searching the term “Bola Tinubu” in the Epstein Library on the U.S. Department of Justice website, which returned no results.¹

The posts containing the false claims included links labeled “full details” that redirected users to unrelated websites, a pattern Africa Check said it has documented in previous fact-checks.¹ Several of the posts originated from Facebook pages with a history of publishing false and misleading information.¹

Context

The false claims emerged after the Department of Justice released more than 3 million pages of Epstein-related documents on January 30, 2026, following passage of the Epstein Transparency Act, which President Donald Trump signed into law on November 19, 2025.¹ The release also included more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images, bringing the total disclosure to nearly 3.5 million pages.¹

Africa Check noted that the documents contain more than 300 names, including some of the most prominent figures in global business and politics. The organization argued that if Tinubu’s name were present in the files, it would have generated significant news coverage given Nigeria’s status as Africa’s most populous nation.¹

Nigeria’s Actual Connections to the Epstein Files

While Tinubu himself is not named, reporting by Al Jazeera and Drop Site News has documented separate connections between Epstein and Nigeria. In the summer of 2018, Epstein facilitated discussions between Jide Zeitlin, then chair of Nigeria’s sovereign investment fund, and Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, then chairman of the Emirati logistics conglomerate DP World, regarding potential shipping terminals in Lagos and Badagry.² Bin Sulayem resigned from DP World after his name appeared more than 4,700 times in the released files.

The spread of false claims linking African leaders to the Epstein files reflects a broader pattern of misinformation that has accompanied the document releases. Fact-checkers and media organizations have warned that the volume of released material, combined with public interest in the case, creates fertile ground for fabricated claims that can circulate widely before verification.¹

References

1. Africa Check — “No, Nigeria’s president Bola Tinubu is not in released Epstein files”
2. Al Jazeera — “Tested on Palestinians: Epstein, Israel’s Barak pushed spy tech in Nigeria”