Nigeria was on Sunday, 11th July, thrown into a state of national mourning as veteran singer, Olanrewaju Fasasi, popularly known as Sound Sultan, passed away.
The 44-year-old whose death was announced by Dr. Kayode Fasasi on behalf of the Fasasis, had battled cancer for a while before his eventual demise.
Multiple media sources reported that the ‘jagbajantis’ crooner succumbed to throat cancer, but how true is this claim?
READ ALSO: Breaking: Veteran Singer, Sound Sultan Is Dead
Sahara Reporters had on May 12, 2021, published a claim that the singer was diagnosed with throat cancer, and was receiving treatment in a hospital in the United States of America. The headline read, ‘Breaking: Popular Nigerian Rapper, Sound Sultan Diagnosed With Throat Cancer’.
The platform made the claim and alleged that the artiste was undergoing chemotherapy at the time, however, the family’s statement says he died after battling angioimmunoblastic t-cell lymphoma, a rare form of non-Hodgkin malignancies (cancers) that affect the lymphatic system, according to rarediseases.org.
Lymphoma is the body’s disease-fighting network. It includes the lymph nodes, spleen, thymus gland and bone marrow. The main types of lymphoma are Hodgkin’s lymphoma and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
– Did Sahara Reporters Lie? –
From the statement of the Fasasi family, it appears that Olanrewaju died of a cancer that affects less than 100,000 people in Nigeria annually, unlike the more common throat cancer.
A quick search on Google by any keen-eyed party, would avail one to the types of throat cancers which include Nasopharyngeal cancer, oropharyngeal cancer, hypopharyngeal cancer, glottic cancer, supraglottic cancer and subglottic cancer. There is no link between the angioimmunoblastic t-cell lymphoma and throat cancer.
While the error was made by Sahara Reporters back in May, more media outlets made the same erroneous publication on Sunday.
Minutes after the family had revealed the death and cause of death, news outlets (not IBrandTV) continued to publish the disinformation.
Verdict: False
SoundSultan did not suffer throat cancer before his death, he passed away after battling a rare angioimmunoblastic t-cell lymphoma.
