Veteran journalist Christiane Amanpour has come under heavy criticism from Nigerians and Ugandans after a social media post wrongly placed the coronation of Uganda’s new Tooro king in Nigeria.

Amanpour had shared a video about Edward Rukidi Kijanangoma, a former television news anchor who was recently crowned King Edward Rukidi Nyabongo I of Uganda’s Tooro Kingdom.

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However, the accompanying post identified Nigeria as the country where the coronation took place.

“The TV anchor who would be king. In Nigeria this week, a new king was coronated with pomp and circumstance — but his resume is what’s really standing out,” Amanpour wrote.

The error quickly drew backlash, with social media users questioning how Uganda could have been mistaken for Nigeria in a report involving such a prominent African event.

One Nigerian user, @nnamdinnake, mocked the mistake, writing: “Nigeria is not an automatic autocorrect for Uganda.”

Another user, @BalamazeDavid, accused Amanpour and CNN of poor journalism, stressing that the coronation took place in Uganda, East Africa, and not Nigeria.

Ugandan users also joined the criticism.

@CKyobutungi wrote: “Some people think Africa is one big country and the countries are like districts. Nigeria? Uganda? These are minor unimportant details to these people.”

Another Ugandan, @IcumarJudith, described the error as embarrassing for a journalist of Amanpour’s standing.

“Amanpour, this is an extremely embarrassing situation for me as a journalism graduate. This king was coronated in Uganda, East Africa and not Nigeria! How could you get all this wrong? Can we trust the rest of the news you bring to us?” the user wrote.

@Karungisera2 also questioned how such a basic geographical error could appear in a post by an internationally recognised journalist.

“If a journalist of Amanpour calibre can be as ignorant then there’s a reason to worry,” the user wrote.

The controversy centres on Edward Rukidi Kijanangoma, a former Uganda Broadcasting Corporation news anchor and editor who was crowned monarch of the Tooro Kingdom.

He assumed the royal name King Edward Rukidi Nyabongo I following his coronation in Uganda.

While Amanpour’s accompanying video concerned the Ugandan monarch, it was the reference to Nigeria in the text introducing the report that triggered the online backlash.