A viral post has surfaced online with a claim that Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III, the 20th Sultan of Sokoto and the supreme spiritual leader of Nigerian Muslims, had purportedly fled Nigeria after the arrival of military men from the United States of America.
A verified X user, Bia Pulse (@BiaPulse) who has over 22.1k followers on X (formerly Twitter) posted the claim on February, 4th, 2026 with an image of Sultan.
The post caption thus reads: “Breaking News: Sultan of Sokoto have left Nigeria after hearing the arrival of US commando military”.
The post has been viewed 14,800 times, 100 commented, 190 reposted, 433 reacted and 16 bookmarked as of press time.
The claim could also be seen on Facebook here, here and here on Threads
CLAIM
Sultan Of Sokoto fled Nigeria after the arrival of U.S. soldiers in Nigeria
THE FINDINGS
Findings by New Daily Prime reveal that the claim is FALSE!
Nigeria has been dealing with the narration of “Christians genocide” which on December 27th, 2025, a U.S. strike hit two Sokoto villages— Tangaza and Tambuwal, targeting terrorists in North-West of Nigeria.
DW, a news agency in Bonn, Germany reported that the United State has confirmed that a small contingent of troops has been sent to Nigeria following a recent American airstrike targeting militants there. General Dagvin Anderson, the head of US military’s Africa Command (AFRICOM) told journalists on Tuesday that the team was deployed after Washington and Abuja agreed that more action was needed to counter the growing terrorist threat in West Africa.
Nigeria’s defense Minister, Christopher Musa also acknowledged the presence of a US team in the country but similarly withheld specifics
New Daily Prime conducted a Google search for a credible media outlet that reported the Sultan of Sokoto fled the country after the arrival of the US team, but none did.
New Daily Prime contacted Aminu Haliru Gidadawa, the public relations officer of the Sultanate Council, Sokoto, he told our reporter that the claim is false, adding that the allegation holds no water.
“As regards that allegation, there is no iota of truth in that allegation in it. The fact of it is that each and every year, Sultan goes for end of year vacation. Even this year is no exception. He traveled out of the country and very soon, he will be back”, Gidadawa told New Daily Prime.
“So the allegation he traveled out of fear of the commander is not true. Whoever knows him, knows that each and every year, he traveled out for vacation and that is what happened this time around.And he will soon be back to the country to continue his duty. Whoever said that is a sheer lie”, he concluded.
Similarly, during the December 27th, 2025 airstrike in Sokoto, claims also went viral that Muslim leader fled the country after the US airstrike hit two communities in Sokoto.
The Sultanate council had debunked a report claiming Sa’ad fled Nigeria after a US airstrike on December, 27, 2025.
VERDICT
The claim that Sultan Sa’ad III left Nigeria after US Soldiers arrived in Nigeria, is False! Findings show that Muslim leader is truly out of Nigeria but for his annual vacation not after deployment of the US team.
