A Facebook post circulating since July 20, 2026, falsely claims that the Federal High Court dismissed a lawsuit seeking the removal of the Arabic inscription from the Nigerian Army logo. Fact-checkers from Dubawa have investigated the claim and found no evidence to support it.
The post, published by user Musa Muhammad Tajudeen, sparked widespread discussion, with some users accepting it as true and others demanding proof. The claim spread across multiple Facebook pages, prompting fact-checkers to examine its validity due to its sensitive nature and wide reach.
Original lawsuit filed in 2020
According to Dubawa, Lagos-based lawyer and human rights activist Malcolm Omirhobo did file a suit at the Federal High Court in Lagos in 2020 challenging the Arabic inscription on the Nigerian Army logo. The case was assigned Suit No. FHC/L/CS/2/2020. Omirhobo argued that placing Arabic writing on official national symbols conflicted with Nigeria's constitutional status as a secular state and sought the removal of the inscription along with other reliefs.
However, confirming that a suit was filed is not the same as confirming the judgment described in the viral post. Dubawa searched available news reports and found no credible evidence that the Federal High Court delivered the specific ruling attributed to it in the Facebook post.
Factual error in the viral post
The fact-checkers also noted a significant factual error in the post itself. It refers to the Federal High Court as the "apex court," but that title belongs exclusively to the Supreme Court of Nigeria. The Federal High Court, while a superior court of record, is not the country's highest judicial authority. This misidentification further undermines the credibility of the claim.
Separate case on naira adds confusion
The fact-checking also uncovered a related but distinct court case. A Federal High Court ruling from July 2024 dismissed a separate suit by Omirhobo concerning Arabic inscriptions on Nigerian currency. That case had nothing to do with the Army logo, and multiple reputable media outlets reported on its outcome at the time. No such comparable media coverage exists for a judgment on the Army logo case, which deepens doubt about the claim in the viral post.
Thus, fact-checkers concluded that the Facebook post is misleading. While Malcolm Omirhobo did file the 2020 Army logo suit, there is no independently verifiable evidence that the Federal High Court has delivered the judgment described. The post's misidentification of the Federal High Court as the apex court further undermines its credibility. The claim that the court dismissed a suit challenging the Arabic inscription on the Nigerian Army logo remains unsubstantiated.
