A three year old television exchange involving British broadcaster George Galloway and a Nigerian caller identify as Yoruban has resurfaced on social media, reigniting a heated debate over President Bola Tinubu, the 2023 election and the politics of ethnicity in Nigeria.
In the exchange, a caller from Gosport who identified himself as Yoruba and said he was a regular viewer appealed to Galloway to tone down his criticism of Tinubu.
The caller warned that claims that the 2023 presidential election had been stolen had already contributed to hostility toward Yoruba people and could deepen ethnic tensions in Nigeria. He also raised fears that the country could face violence on the scale of the 1967 civil war if political disagreements continued to be framed along ethnic lines.
Galloway rejected the appeal.
He said he had not known that Tinubu was Yoruba and argued that the president’s ethnicity and Muslim faith were not reasons to overlook what he described as serious allegations concerning his past and his conduct.
The broadcaster accused Tinubu of theft and fraud and referred to allegations concerning his activities in Chicago. He also accused him of using forged election documents and claimed that Nigeria’s election authorities had manufactured the result of the 2023 presidential election.
Galloway argued that criticism of a politician should be based on evidence and character rather than ethnic or religious identity.
To make his point, he compared criticism of Tinubu with criticism of former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, saying that questioning Sunak’s record would not amount to an attack on all Indian people or Hindus.
The programme originally aired in September 2023, shortly after Nigeria’s election petition court upheld Tinubu’s victory in the presidential election. Galloway described the court ruling as a farce and continued to challenge the legitimacy of the election.
His criticism of Tinubu has continued for years. Among the issues he has repeatedly raised are questions surrounding documents associated with Tinubu, including the spelling of his name on a university certificate, as well as records relating to his time in the United States.
Galloway has also hosted Nigerian journalist David Hundeyin on the programme to discuss records linked to Chicago and allegations surrounding the 2023 election.
The newly circulating clip still carries the on screen description branding Tinubu as a crook and a forger, helping fuel renewed reactions among Nigerian social media users.
The response has been sharply divided.
Many Nigrians has defended Galloway, saying his arguments concern evidence, official documents and the credibility of the election rather than Tinubu’s ethnic or religious background.
The controversy also reflects a wider argument that has remained unresolved since the 2023 election. Tinubu won the presidential vote and was subsequently declared the winner through Nigeria’s legal process, while opponents continued to dispute aspects of the election and raise questions about the conduct of the vote.
With the old footage now circulating again in September 2026, an argument that began three years ago has found a new audience.
What was once a television confrontation between a British broadcaster and a Nigerian caller has become fresh ammunition in Nigeria’s continuing political battle over Tinubu, electoral credibility, ethnicity and the limits of criticism in a deeply divided political environment.
