On Monday, a Twitter user with the name ‘Abdulrazak Gurnah’ tweeted about the death of Professor Wole Soyinka, a Nigerian literary icon and 1986 Nobel Laureate winner.

The Twitter user claimed to have learned of Soyinka’s death in a phone call from Nigeria.

“I got a call from Nigeria,” he wrote. “Wole Soyinka died suddenly a few minutes ago. A terrible news.”

THE CLAIM: Wole Soyinka died on Monday.

VERIFICATION

To verify this news, FIJ examined the Twitter handle from where the news originated and placed calls to the close relatives of Professor Wole Soyinka.

THE TWITTER HANDLE

The Twitter handle from where the news originated bore the name of Abdulrazak Gurnah, the winner of the 2021 Nobel prize in literature. The user also used @GurnahAuthor as the account’s username to personify the identity of Professor Gurnah, an author. This made it easy for people to believe the social media handle was that of the Nobel laureate.

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Examining the Twitter handle, FIJ found that it wasn’t verified, an unusual feature of a social media account belonging to an individual of Gurnah’s social standing. Also, six other unverified accounts were found portraying the identity of Gurnah.

SIX TWITTER ACCOUNTS BEARING PROFESSOR GURNAH’S NAME

S/N	NAME	USERNAME	DATE CREATED
1.	Abdulrazak Gurnah	@GurnahAuthor	August 2021
2.	Abdulrazak Gurnah	@AbdulGurnah	November 2016
3.	Abdulrazak Gurnah	@AuthorGurnah	September 2021
4.	Abdulrazak Gurnah	@GurnahAuthorr	October 2021
5.	Abdulrazak Gurnah	@JimmyMfila	January 2016
6.	ABDULRAZAK GURNAH	@GURNAX	October 2021

At the time of writing this report, several Twitter users had suggested that the account a hoax. The Twitter handle from where the news originated had also been changed to Pino Pignuti (IPignuti), from Abdulrazak Gurnah (@GurnahAuthor), and all tweets associated with it deleted.

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THE FAMILY CONFIRMED WOLE SOYINKA IS ALIVE

In a chat with our reporter, Lola Shoneyin, a prominent Nigerian literary figure and Soyinka’s daughter-in-law, said the news was false.

“It’s not true,” she said.

Earlier, Shoneyin had posted on Twitter that Professor Abdulrazak Gurmah is not on Twitter.

During my short exchange with Prof Abdulrazak Gurnah a few minutes ago, he stated, "I am NOT a @Twitter user."

Please take note. https://t.co/t8TSIY2POV

— Lọlá Shónẹ́yìn (@lolashoneyin) October 9, 2021

“During my short exchange with Prof Abdulrazak Gurmah a few minutes ago, he stated, ‘I am not a Twitter user,’” she wrote on Twitter on Saturday.

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CONCLUSION

The Twitter handle bearing the name ‘Abdulrazak Gurnah’, with username ‘@GurnahAuthor’, was a hoax, and Gurnah did not break the news of the death of Soyinka’s death.

VERDICT: The news that Professor Wole Soyinka is dead is false.