A photo through a post is being widely shared on social media claiming that the President of Ivory Coast Alassane Ouattara performed hajj with his own money, refusing the official protocol. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: President of Ivory Coast Alassane Ouattara performed hajj with his own money, refusing the official protocol.
Fact: President of Ivory Coast Alassane Ouattara performed hajj in 2018 with his family and other prominent Ivorian personalities, but he did not refuse any official Saudi protocol. In April 2022, he performed Umrah in Prophet’s Mosque Madinah; then too he was received by Special Forces and officials of the Mosque. According to Anti-Rumours Authority, a media platform from Saudi Arabia, the person in the photo is not President Alassane Ouattara. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
When we searched online regarding the President of Ivory Coast’s recent visit to west Asia, we found articles which reported his visit in April 2022, to perform Umrah in Prophet’s Mosque Madinah. According to this report by Saudi Gazette, Alassane Ouattara, the President of Ivory Coast was received by Special Forces and officials of the Mosque. None of the photos reported online match with the viral photo.
Even in August 2018, President Alassane Ouattara made the pilgrimage to Mecca and Madinah. Though he performed Hajj in a wheelchair, he was there with his family and several other Ivorian personalities. Alassane Ouattara began his pilgrimage at the invitation of the King of Saudi Arabia, Salman Ibn Abdelaziz Al Saud. He was received by Saudi authorities, the photos of which can be seen here. None of these photos match with the viral photo.
When the same photo went viral as President Alassane Ouattara in Hajj 2018, Anti-Rumours Authority, a media platform from Saudi Arabia had tweeted saying that the person is not President Alassane Ouattara. It refuted the claim that Saudi protocol was rejected; saying that President Alassane Ouattara performed the Hajj with his private security.
To sum it up, there is no evidence to show that the President of Ivory Coast performed Hajj by refusing the Saudi official protocol recently.
