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Former NCDC Boss, Chikwe Ihekweazu, Hanged by US Navy? Fact Emerges
Nigeria

Former NCDC Boss, Chikwe Ihekweazu, Hanged by US Navy? Fact Emerges

by  Ridwan Adeola 2 min read
  • A claim has appeared online saying Nigeria’s Centre for Disease Control former boss, Chikwe Ihekweazu, was executed by the US Navy
  • Ihekweazu is a Nigerian epidemiologist, public health physician and the incumbent WHO’s assistant director-general for health emergency intelligence and surveillance systems
  • A fact-checking platform investigated the claim that Ihekweazu was executed at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba

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Legit.ng journalist Ridwan Adeola Yusuf has over 9 years of experience covering public journalism.

FCT, Abuja - A claim has been circulating online that Chikwe Ihekweazu, the former chief executive Officer of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), was executed at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

The posters claim the top World Health Organization (WHO) official was hanged on February 3, 2024.

Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu was not hanged at Guantanamo Bay/US Navy did not hang a top WHO official at Guantanamo Bay
Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu was not killed at Guantanamo Bay. Photo credit: Anadolu
Source: Getty Images

This claim has been circulating since February 10.

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Legit.ng reports that the Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a US detention facility on the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, located on the coast of Guantanamo Bay in southeastern Cuba.

Ihekweazu, an epidemiologist, is the assistant director-general for the health emergency intelligence and surveillance systems division at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. He also leads the WHO’s hub for pandemic and epidemic intelligence.

The claim that he was executed at Guantanamo Bay comes from an article headlined 'JAG hangs WHO despot', published on a site known for disinformation, 'Real Raw News'.

The site said “Gitmo sources” divulge to it that the Judge Advocate General's Corps (JAG) hanged Ihekweazu on February 3 after he had “surreptitiously entered the United States to discuss enacting fresh shelter-in-place and vaccine mandates with the CDC’s nefarious Rapid Response Team”.

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A fact-checking platform, Africa Check, investigated the claim.

Following its scrutiny, Africa Check said the supposed execution “never happened”.

It concluded that the claim was false.

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Source: Legit.ng

Authors:
Ridwan Adeola avatar

Ridwan Adeola (Current Affairs Editor) Ridwan Adeola Yusuf is a content creator with more than nine years of experience, He is also a Current Affairs Editor at Legit.ng. He holds a Higher National Diploma in Mass Communication from the Polytechnic Ibadan, Oyo State (2014). Ridwan previously worked at Africa Check, contributing to fact-checking research works within the organisation. He is an active member of the Academic Excellence Initiative (AEI). In March 2024, Ridwan completed the full Google News Initiative Lab workshop and his effort was recognised with a Certificate of Completion. Email: ridwan.adeola@corp.legit.ng.

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