Please note that the FactCheckHub has not obtained any right from the authors or copyright owners of all third-party contents from embedded links and shall incur no liability in this regard.
Please note that the FactCheckHub has not obtained any right from the authors or copyright owners of all third-party contents from embedded links and shall incur no liability in this regard.
Please note that the FactCheckHub has not obtained any right from the authors or copyright owners of all third-party contents from embedded links and shall incur no liability in this regard.
Please note that the FactCheckHub has not obtained any right from the authors or copyright owners of all third-party contents from embedded links and shall incur no liability in this regard.
A VIRAL video has surfaced online alongside a claim that the former Vice President and presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, met with the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, and some Northern governors on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) hours after the APC presidential primary was concluded on Wednesday, June 8, 2022.
The video circulates following the emergence of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos state as the presidential candidate of the APC in Nigeria’s 2023 general election. Lawan was among the aspirants in the APC presidential primariesdefeated in the race.
In the 29 seconds video, Atiku was seen in a room with Lawan, Yobe State Governor, Maimala Buni, Katsina State Governor, Aminu Bello Masari, and Jigawa State Governor, Mohammed Badaru, among other dignitaries.
A Facebook user, Adenike Otitoju postedthe video on June 9, 2022 with a caption:
“Northern APC governors and Senate President went to visit Atiku. These are people that just handed ticket of their party to Bola Tinubu and in less than 24 hours they are flocking together with the flag bearer of an opposition party. If this is not conspiracy then tell me what it is. They collected all his dollar, gave him ticket and turned their backs immediately* Something go happen. These people are funny.”
The video has garnered over 9,000 views and shared more than 180 times on her Facebook page as of June 12, 2022.
Another Facebook user, Suleiman Iliasu Idah, posted the same video with a similar caption:
“Here’s the APC Governors and SP Lawan meeting with Atiku of PDP after the APC Presidential primaries. What is going on really???”
The post has been shared more than 100 times and garnered over 9,700 views on Facebook.
The video was also posted on Facebook by a news blog, Eagles Reporters, here and another user, Diran Odeyemi – a former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the PDP – herewith similar captions.
Similarly, a Twitter user, @MrSean_Jc, tweeted the same video with a similar caption:
“Just less than 24hrs after apc primaries, Nothern Apc Governors including lawan meet with #Atiku this was so predictable its almost funny. Expect massive decamping soon #PeterObi4President2023(sic).”
THE CLAIM
Video shows Lawan, Northern APC governors meeting with Atiku hours after the 2022 APC presidential primary.
A screenshot of the viral video posted by a Facebook user, Adenike Otitoju.
THE FINDINGS
The FactCheckHub traced the source of the video to a TikTok account with the username @boboske1 using bellingcat – a verification tool.
The results show that the video was uploaded on the 23rd of January, 2022. This was about four months prior to the APC presidential primary.
The Sun newspaper reported that Atiku, Lawan, and Buni met on the 22nd of January 2022 during a condolence visit to the family of Dahiru Mangal who lost his 85-year-old mother two days earlier.
Dahiru Mangal is a Katsina-based business mogul and the chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Afdin Group of companies Nigeria Limited and Max Air Limited.
Further checks unveiled a tweet made by Atiku on January 22, 2022, via his verified Twitter handle on the condolence visit.
The tweet read: “Earlier today, I paid a condolence visit to Alhaji Dahiru Mangal in Katsina over the loss of his beloved mother and matriarch of their family, Hajiya Murja Bara’u. I pray that Almighty Allah will comfort the family and grant her Aljannah Firdaus in Paradise.”
A closer look at the images attached to the tweet shows that the outfits that Atiku and other dignitaries wore during the condolence visit are the same as what they put on in the viral video.
A keyword search on some social media platforms also revealed footage of the same video posted on Facebook on the 18th of April, 2022 by a Facebook page, Igbo for Peter Obi. This shows that the video has been online before the APC presidential primary.
THE VERDICT
The claim that the video shows Lawan and some Northern APC governors meeting with Atiku shortly after the APC presidential primary is FALSE; findings show that the video has been online since January prior to the primary election.
A VIDEO showing crowd running after a police van has surfaced on social media alongside a claim that it shows unknown gunmen chasing away security operatives in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.
A pro-Biafran Twitter user, Prof. Samuel Hero Okonkwo, with the username @SamuelHero6 tweeted the claim with a caption:
“Nigeria Falling Apart; breaking: unknown Gunmen in Abuja chase security men away from boundary between Nigeria neighboring countries. with heavy multiple gun shot.. Shame On #BBC fake News Media, Journalists Without soul,” his tweet, archived here, read.
He also posted the same claim on his Facebook page which has been shared more than thirty times.
CLAIM
Video shows unknown gunmen in Abuja chasing away security men in Nigeria.
A screenshot of the claim seen on Twitter.
THE FINDINGS
When The FactCheckHub subjected the keyframes of the video to multiple Reverse Image Search, the results revealed an incident that happened in Ivory Coast and not Abuja as claimed in the viral social media posts.
The FactCheckHub found out that the France-based media outlet LSi Africa published the video on Twitter on August 7, 2020, the same day that some citizens of the country stormed the streets to kick against Alassane Ouattara’s bid to contest for a third term in office as the country’s president.
Using the Google translate service, the caption on the video reads:
“Tense situation in #Bonoua (South-Comoé region, located northeast of Grand-Bassam) where the police are attacked by the populations exits to demonstrate against the candidacy of Ivorian President Alassane”(sic).
Bonoua is a town in the south-eastern Ivory Coast.
However, Abuja lies in Nigeria’s North Central region, and it is bordered by Niger, Kaduna, Nasarawa, and Kogi states respectively. So, it is contradictory to say somewhere on the shared border with other African countries.
Further checks revealed that the video had earlier been falsely used, such as here, to depict electoral violence in Benin city, Edo state during the state gubernatorial election in 2020.
Meanwhile, the video has also been verified by the AFP to be old footage from Ivory Coast.
THE VERDICT
The claim that the video shows unknown gunmen in Abuja chasing away security men is FALSE; as findings revealed that the video emanated from the violence that erupted in Ivory Coast in August 2020.
DURING the peak of the pandemic, many religious leaders innocuously spread false narratives about COVID-19 among members of their congregation which put many lives at risk. Most of the misinformation had stemmed from a place of fear and confusion, and the communication gap between the government and religious heads worsened the situation.
In May 2021, Victor Ojo had listened to a sermon by David Oyedepo, the General Overseer at his place of worship, Living Faith Church Worldwide, describing the COVID-19 vaccine as a death warrant.
During the sermon, Oyedepo had warned his church members against taking the vaccine,describing it as a ploy to kill Africans.
“They wanted Africa dead. I heard them say it. When we didn’t die as they proposed, they brought out this vaccination scheme.
“You need to hear their proclamation that Africa will lack spaces to bury corpses. But, today, the reverse is the case. Africa has the least casualties among all the other continents of the world,” Oyedepo said.
Ojo had been exposed to so much conflicting information concerning the virus, and when he heard Oyedepo’s position on the vaccine, he chose to believe his pastor.
“There is so much in this world that many of us don’t understand. A lot of things are spiritual. How did they come up with the vaccine so quickly? The world is coming to an end and something seemed off, so I refused to take it,” he said.
Two months later, he came down with COVID-19.
“I contracted the virus in July and was sick for a month, but thank God I’m better now. It was probably the will of God,” Ojo told The FactCheckHub.
Bishop David Oyedepo.
Before the advent of the COVID-19 vaccine, Oyedepo had also kicked against lockdown directives since the outbreak of the disease.
The Nigerian government had placed a ban on religious and social gatherings in March 2020 to curb the spread of the virus.
Since markets had been left open for six hours every day, Oyedepo questioned the rationale behind the ban on churches, attributing it to evil forces attempting to cripple Christianity.
Many lives at risk
Nigeria has a high level of vaccine hesitancy, largely due to misinformation and disinformation on the nature of the vaccine, including those spread in religious gatherings.
As one of the most religious nations globally with a deep-seated distrust for the ruling class, citizens are more likely to listen to leaders at their places of worship than the political rulers.
This is heightened by the fact that 30 percent of Nigeria’s population are illiterate, and about 100 million people lack access to internet services.
The confusion following the COVID-19 pandemic left many Nigerians with no other option but to follow the teachings of religious leaders who they look up to.
But many religious leaders, through their teachings, continue to put many lives at risk in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The General Overseer of Believers’ Love World, a church popularly known as Christ Embassy, Chris Oyakhilome, had berated church heads who complied with the government’s ban on religious gatherings.
“I can’t understand how a minister of the gospel would be waiting for some vaccine to be the solution for the world. Where is your faith? What happened to you? We cannot make such recommendations; it is not our calling to make such recommendations.
“We cannot be used for that. As a minister of the gospel, you should not be used for that. How can you become a minister of vaccines? What happened to you? Where is the word of God in your mouth?” he asked.
Pastor Chris Oyakhilome.
Oyakhilome had also questioned the motive behind vaccination against the virus.
In the heat of the pandemic, he had spread the narrative that the large number of deaths being recorded was a result of the new 5G network, bringing to question the existence of the COVID-19 virus.
Although he had come under criticism by some other religious heads, his narrative of the 5G network spread so quickly across Nigeria, and Amaechi Uzo, a trader in Lagos state, bought into it.
“I first heard at my shop that there was nothing like COVID, rather 5G was killing people. The same day we discussed it at the shop, my neighbour at home told me the same thing. I felt that everybody cannot be wrong at the same time, so I believed,” he said.
Uzo went about his daily activities believing that the pandemic was a lie until he came down with the disease in November 2020.
“Frankly, I was surprised when they said I had COVID-19. I was quite ill, and at that time, I didn’t know what to believe anymore,” he said.
For Chris Okotie, the Senior Pastor at the Household of God Church International Ministries, receiving the vaccine was the same as entering into a covenant with the devil and becoming a vampire.
Pastor Chris Okotie.
“Since the blood of Jesus is not what he (Satan) is talking about, or what he has to offer, he will require you to seek blood somewhere else. And the only place where you can find blood is in another human being. So, one of the things that the vaccine will make you do is to become a vampire who needs to drink blood for sustenance,” he said.
The misinformation surrounding COVID-19 is not only spread in churches across Nigeria.
At the peak of the lockdown, Islamic cleric Sani Yahaya Jingir had shared a sermon that was aired online, saying COVID-19 was a conspiracy aimed at restricting Muslims from performing religious rites.
“They are just unveiling Coronavirus that was written in a book 39 years ago. How many graves of Coronavirus victims have you seen and how many of the victims have you seen in hospitals?” heasked.
Like Uzo in Lagos, Ayuba Ishaq, who owns a cosmetic store in Abuja, heard of the sermon and believed it.
It also didn’t help that he had seen images circulating on social media of a novel written years ago which predicted a pandemic and lockdown.
“By the time I developed a fever, I had to see a doctor. He made me take the COVID test and they said I was positive,” he said.
Despite coming down with the virus, Ishaq still believes the preacher was right, and he had only suffered from malaria.
“This thing is just ordinary malaria. I felt the same way as when I had malaria. They are just calling it a big name to deceive people,” he said.
These religious leaders mentioned above can be said to have this much influence over their members due to the popularity they enjoy within and outside their congregation.
However, some less popular religious heads have also played a role in spreading misinformation about the COVID-19 in Nigeria.
A resident of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Ama Judith, told The FactCheckHub that a pastor who she simply identified as Moses, at a church she attended, Daylight Ministries, Apo, had preached against the use of nose masks.
“He said we should do away with nose masks because great worldly powers are using them to make money from the masses. He said this on two separate occasions that I am aware of.
“I didn’t really believe him, but I found myself paying less and less attention to the use of nose masks,” she said.
Although she did not contract the virus, she is now more aware of the risk she took and has since left the church.
Religious leaders have more direct contact with community members, including the poorest and least enlightened.
While some religious leaders used their influence to complement government efforts in curbing the spread of COVID-19, many failed in this regard.
Communication gap plays a role
Some reasons exist which may explain the reaction of some religious heads to the COVID-19 virus.
Despite their ability to influence a large number of community members, there was an absence of adequate communication and sensitisation of religious leaders by the government.
Noting that many religious leaders reacted from a place of ignorance and fear, Clinical Microbiologist and expert in the management of infectious hazards, Bola Olayinka said better communication would have been effective in curbing the spread of misinformation.
“Let’s remember these religious leaders were human beings. There were many other people who did not believe in the existence of COVID in 2020, but who today are the ones saying that COVID is real,” she said.
She also told The FactCheckHub that some religious leaders had adopted a defensive position to government directives due to a lack of proper understanding of the situation.
“I think at the beginning, just like the government went all out to do media engagements, engaging teachers in schools, business owners, I feel they should have done an engagement with the religious leaders.
“But it looked like the government just gave out rules to them, so that kind of put them in the situation to think the state was against them. The state did not call them in for dialogue,” she said.
For Public Health expert, Adeyemi Opeyemi, misinformation continues to be a major challenge in the public health sector.
She noted that policies should be consistently put in place to help deal with the menace both at national and international levels, adding that the peculiar nature of the virus gave room for frequent misinformation and disinformation.
“COVID was peculiar in the sense that the science kept evolving, not much was known at first so it opened the room for a lot of doubt and theories about it,” she said.
“Religious places weren’t happy that a disease could threaten the gathering of their followers and cause them to do things differently. So, there was a need to give information that would threaten the existence of COVID,” she said.
She noted that some governments across the world imposed fines on persons who spread misinformation about the virus to curb it.
“The United Kingdom is an example of where the government stepped in; they fined anyone including religious organisations that spread misinformation about COVID. This shows that it is possible.
“One thing social media sites did was ensure links with the right information were provided with any tweet or post related to COVID or COVID vaccination.
“So, this can also be put into place, get religious people or associations who can create united jingles and short ads promoting the right information,” she said.
* This story was produced with the support of the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), in partnership with Code for Africa and Ayin Network.
A VIRAL post circulating on WhatsApp in Nigeria claimed that Professor Yemi Osinbajo, through his campaign group, is giving out N33,000 as a support grant to every Nigerian.
The post, retrieved from WhatsApp on the 31st of May 2022, claimed that the N33,000 is a support grant from the Campaign Support Group of Nigeria’s Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, a presidential aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The claim reads:
“PROF YEMI OSINBAJO ₦33,000 GRANT FOR NIGERIANS.
Hurry Now and Check if you are Eligible to Receive ₦33,000 Support Grant From VP YEMI OSINBAJO Campaign Support.
This Grant is Available To all Nigerians.
“APPLY HERE”
Osinbajo officially declared his intention to contest the 2023 presidential election via his verified social media handles on the 11th of April 2022, The ICIRreported.
“I am today, with utmost humility formally declaring my intention to run for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on the platform of APC,” Osinbajo’s statement partly read.
Ahead of the official declaration of Osinbajo’s presidential bid, several branches of Professor Yemi Osinbajo (PYO) Support Group had been inaugurated across states in Nigeria, The Punch newspaper reported.
THE CLAIM
Professor Yemi Osinbajo is giving every Nigerian N33,000 support grant.
A screenshot of the viral claim on WhatsApp.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is FALSE.
A click on the link, archived here, directs users to a website showing the image of Osinbajo alongside some information about the grant with instructions on how users should enter their personal details to apply.
Details required to access the grant include name, phone number, address, and email address. It stated that “This offer is available till July 2022” on the webpage when scrolled down.
Once the required details are filled in and submitted, it directs users to another page showing congratulatory texts with an instruction that they should invite friends to get a withdrawal code.
A look at the website shows that both its URL and webpage have features similar to some websites The FactCheckHub had earlier verified to be false as seen here, here, here, here, and here.
When the web link was subjected to an anti-malware test using McAfee WebAdvisor, the result shows that “this site contains potentially dangerous content that could harm your computer.”
The McAfee WebAdvisor is a service that reports on the safety of websites by crawling the web and testing the sites it finds for malware and spam.
Screenshot of the result of anti-malware test on the web link using McAfee WebAdvisor.
Further checks revealed that the campaign support group of the APC presidential hopeful allegedly behind this viral claim on WhatsApp is known as Osinbajo Support Movement (OSM).
On its official website, the Osinbajo Support Movement claimed that it is “a group of patriotic Nigerians committed to ensuring that Nigeria’s brilliant, hardworking, reliable, and patriotic Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo contest and win the 2023 Presidential election.”
When The FactCheckHub reached out to the OSM via one of its social media platforms, it stated that the claim is false.
“It’s not from the VP (Yemi Osinbajo) sir. It’s absolutely fake news,” an Admin of the page stated in response to our reporter’s inquiry.
THE VERDICT
The claim that Professor Yemi Osinbajo is giving every Nigerian N33,000 as a support grant is FALSE; findings show it is a phishing website.
FORMER Lagos State governor and presidential aspirant on the All Progressives Congress (APC) platform, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has claimed that he brought a leading mobile telecommunications company, Econet, now Airtel to Nigeria.
Tinubu made this claim while speaking before the APC presidential screening committee led by a former National Chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun on Monday, May 30, 2022.
“Telecommunication that is nonsense in Nigeria today, I brought Econet, Econet is now Airtel,” he said between 3:03 – 3:10 seconds of the video uploaded to YouTube by Njenje Media TV the following day. It has over 800 views as of June 3, 2022.
This claim has also been subjected to discussions on social media, particularly on Twitter, where some users also stated that the former governor brought Econet to Nigeria.
For instance, a Twitter user, Alabi Opeyemi Oladimeji, with the username, @alabiopeyemiola in his tweet claimed that Tinubu and not the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and former vice president Atiku Abubakar brought Econet to Nigeria.
“Tinubu brought Econet which was the first telecommunications service provider to launch commercial GSM services in Nigeria. August 5, 2001. It was not Obasanjo and Atiku Administration,” Alabi’s tweet read.
A screenshot of the viral claim.
Another Twitter user, Duke of Nigeria with the username @xagreat in his tweet also claimed that Tinubu was the only governor that brought a telecommunication network provider to Nigeria.
“Tinubu brought Airtel to Nigeria (then Econet). “Tinubu is the only Governor who brought a telecommunications network provider to Nigeria,” his tweet read.
Similarly, another Twitter user with the ID, @cbngov_akin1, posted a similar claim on May 31, 2022, saying that Tinubu brought ECONET to Nigeria, having got the digital mobile licence.
Another screenshot of the viral claim on Twitter.
“HISTORY 101. In the year 2001, August, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu @officialABAT brought ECONET, The First Telecommunications Service Provider in Nigeria to launch commercial Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) services in Nigeria. Having got the Digital Mobile License (DML),” his tweet read.
How Econet was founded in Nigeria
In January 2001, the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), concluded its Digital Mobile Licence auction with three successful bidders namely, Communication Investments Limited, Econet Wireless Nigeria Limited and MTN Nigeria Communications Limited.
The NCC in a statement signed by its then Executive Vice‐Chairman, Engr. Ernest C. A. Ndukwe on January 19, 2001, said each of the three successful bidders was expected to pay a sum of USD $285,000,000 ($285 million) licence fee.
On March 24, 2001, the NCC had a formal presentation of licences to the three final winners, Econet, MTN, NITEL in Abuja.
The then Minister of Communications, Alhaji Muhammed Arzika presented the digital mobile licences to Econet Wireless Nigeria, MTN Nigeria and NITEL.
“First to be given was Econet which collected its licence at exactly 12.50 PM by its chairman Oba Otudeko. He thereafter handed it over to Mr. Strive Masiyiwa, the MD/CEO Econet Wireless of Zimbabwe.
“The chairman of MTN Nigeria, Dr. Pascal Dodzie was absent at the ceremony but his Vice Chairman, Col. Sani Bello (rtd) collected the Licence on behalf of the company and following the precedent set by Otudeko handed it over to Mr. Karel Pienaar, the Chief Executive Officer of the Company in Nigeria.
“NITEL’s chairman, Chief Martins Igbokwe at 12. 53 PM shook hands with the Arzika and collected the organisation’s licence on its behalf. He thereafter handed it over to the company’s Managing Director, Dr. Emmanuel Ojeba,” ThisDay newspaper reported.
Meanwhile, on August 8, 2001, Econet Wireless Nigeria launched its GSM mobile service.
Before the launch, the NCC had set an August 9 deadline for licensed telecommunications to launch their services in Nigeria.
How a Zimbabwean, Strive Masiyiwa brought Econet to Nigeria
A Zimbabwean, Strive Masiyiwa, the founder and Executive Chairman of the Econet Group (Cassava Technologies and Econet Wireless) founded Econet Wireless in 1993 with its headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa.
In March 2000, Masiyiwa fled from persecution from the local authorities in Zimbabwe and never returned to the country.
Strive Masiyiwa, Founder of Econet Group.
Strive Masiyiwa said that before coming to establish Econet in Nigeria, President Obasanjo had made it clear that he preferred Nigerian companies in partnership with experienced African operators to bid for the three available licences.
“At that time, there were four African-led telecoms groups: MTN South Africa, led by Phuthuma Nhleko, Celtel, led by Mo Ibrahim from Sudan, Orascom, led Naguib Sawiris from Egypt, Econet Wireless, led by myself from Zimbabwe but exiled to South Africa,” he stated.
Masiyiwa said when he first arrived in Nigeria to set up Econet, he served as the company’s interim CEO for about six months.
“To imagine that I made the first-ever official GSM mobile call in Nigeria on 6th August 2001 seems almost unbelievable.
“Our company Econet Wireless Nigeria was in a race with MTN Nigeria, the only other operator at the time, to meet a deadline set by the regulator for 8th of August. We beat the deadline and MTN by two days, and as Interim CEO, I had the privilege to call the regulator to tell him we were ‘Live’!” he posted on his official Facebook page.
How Econet exited Nigeria
After purchasing the GSM licence for $285 million, Econet suffered severe financing problems, which made it sell 30% of the company to the Lagos, Delta, and Akwa Ibom state governments.
First Bank of Nigeria was also given an option to convert money it lent Econet to help cover the cost of the GSM licence into a 20% stake in the company.
Masiyiwa, in a blog post by TechPoint Africa, also stated that he assembled a group of 22 investors to put up the money he used in bidding for the licence from the government.
“Our shareholders were all Nigerians, mostly institutional investors including leading banks and two state governments, Lagos State and Delta State. The license cost us $285m and was the most expensive license ever issued in Africa at the time. This was 2001.”
He said most of the investors had between 1-10% shareholding, while Econet Wireless Nigeria had only 5% of the shares.
Econet was booming after the launch with many subscribers and was even rated number one in the market with an estimated 57% market share until politicians started frustrating the company.
“Then came the fateful day when I was told that our company must pay a total of $9m in bribes to senior politicians (in state government) who had facilitated the raising of the money to pay for the licence.
“James Ibori, the Governor of Delta State, was demanding $4,5m be paid to him in his personal capacity. He was one of the most powerful men in the country and had a reputation for violence. When he heard that I was refusing to approve payment he issued an ultimatum,” Masiyiwa narrated.
He said Econet was later frustrated out of Nigeria for not paying bribes to the investors.
“The shareholders met and voted Econet Wireless Nigeria out of management. They cancelled our management contract. James Ibori and his colleagues personally attended the meeting to remove us.”
The issue later led to the selling off of Econet to Vodacom in 2004.
MULTIPLE posts on social media have claimed that a former governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, alongside his son and daughter have contested and won the Senatorial, Governorship, and House of Representatives seats respectively under the political platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
A Twitter user, Ntufam, with the username @syke_ronald had tweeted the claim with a caption:
“Things are happening in the political space. Sule Lamido is contesting for Senate. His son Mustapha Lamido is contesting for governor. His daughter is running for house representatives. They all won their primaries.”
The tweet has garnered more than 1,500 retweets and over 3,000 likes as of May 30, 2022.
Similarly, a Facebook user, Alhaji Prince, had earlier posted the same claim on May 26, 2022 with the caption thus: “Lamido and Sons. Family affairs. Former Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido Is Contesting For Senate, His Son Mustapha Lamido Is Contesting For Governor, His Daughter Is Contesting For House Of Representatives.His Son Aminu contesting for State House Assembly. All Of Them Won Their Primaries.”
The post has also been shared more than 250 times as of June 3, 2022.
Another Facebook page simply identified as Temidayo Picture posted the claim with a caption: “Sule Lamido won for Senate. His son won for Governor and His daughter won for Rep. All under PDP in Jigawa state. If this was Tinubu, some people will visit UN headquarters to submit petition of threat to Democracy.”
The post has been shared more than 100 times as of June 3, 2022.
THE CLAIM
Sule Lamido, son and daughter contested and won Senate, Governorship, and House of Representatives tickets respectively.
A screenshot of the viral claim.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is MOSTLY FALSE.
Checks by The FactCheckHub revealed that contrary to the viral social media claim, neither Lamido nor his daughter contested any elective position in Jigawa State.
Public records show that it is only the former governor’s son, Mustapha Lamido, who contested and won the governorship ticket of the PDP in the state.
Mustapha Lamido polled 829 votes to defeat former Minister of State for Power, Saleh Shehu Hadejia who scored 0 votes in the election held on Wednesday, May 25, 2022.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives candidates of the party in the state emerged through consensus, The Nigerian Tribune reported. However, no female was among the eleven candidates that emerged after the exercise. Also, no son or daughter of the former governor was found on the party’s list of candidates.
Further checks alsoshowthat Sule Lamido, who is a PDP chieftain, was not among the contenders or winners of any PDP senatorial seats in the state.
THE VERDICT
The claim that the former Jigawa state governor Sule Lamido, son and daughter contested and won the PDP’s primaries is MOSTLY FALSE; findings show that only Lamido’s son, Mustapha contested and won the PDP’s governorship primary ticket in the state.
AN OLD image of a brown paper envelope customized with the logo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and showing some wads of dollar notes in it has resurfaced online during the just-concluded presidential primaries of the party.
At the party’s primary election held on Saturday, 28th of May 2022, in Abuja, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar emerged as the party’s flag-bearer, the Premium Times had reported.
Following the event, various social media posts have surfaced online claiming that the image was that of monies shared by some of the presidential hopefuls to delegates at the event.
The photo also circulated widely in several WhatsApp groups. In one of the groups, a user claimed that that was the money given to delegates last Saturday at the PDP special convention where the primary election was conducted.
“This is what they shared to delegates at PDP primary elections today in Abuja. Money politics at play,” the caption posted alongside the photo read. Another user posted the same image but with a different caption that read: “they even customized the envelope.”
CLAIM
Photo shows money shared to delegates at the PDP primary election in Abuja on Saturday.
This viral image with the claim was shared in a WhatsApp group on May 28, 2022.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is FALSE.
When the image was subjected to a Google Reverse Image Search, the results show that the photo has been on the internet since 2015.
The photo was first uploaded online on the 20th of March, 2015 by one City Rovers blog, as archived here.
Further findings by The FactCheckHub revealed that the same image resurfaced online three years later, precisely in 2018 when the PDP held its presidential primaries for the 2019 election. During that period, it circulated online with posts alleging that it was money shared to delegates at the 2018 PDP primary election. It was reported here, here, and here, as archived.
The FactCheckHub observed that since 2015, this same image has resurfaced on the internet during election periods.
THE VERDICT
The claim that the image was from the 2022 PDP presidential primary election is FALSE, as it is an old photo that has been online since 2015.
A VIRAL video circulating on WhatsApp has claimed that the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Enugu state, Dr. Peter Mbah Ndubuisi, has been killed after winning the party’s primary election.
Dr. Ndubuisi, a former Commissioner of Finance in the state, was declared the winner of the 2022 PDP governorship primary held on Wednesday, 25th of May, 2022, Premium Times had reported.
The 1-minute 36 seconds video, which was retrieved from a WhatsApp group on May 29, 2022, showed two bodies lying on the expressway, in shirts that are similar to the Nigerian police customized T-shirt. It also showed the body of a man who had fallen on the floor from the back seat of a black SUV car, which had almost fallen into a ditch.
The car had multiple holes which suggested it was bullet-ridden, with voices in the video saying in Igbo language and translated thus: “This is happening right now in Enugu in broad daylight, in front of Centenary junction. That is Dr. Ndubuisi. These armed robbers have come again. Unknown gunmen. These people have come again. Nowhere is safe.”
The video was shared alongside a caption that reads: “Dr. Ndubuisi, the winner of Enugu state governorship primaries murdered this morning…… viewers discretion advised.”
CLAIM
Dr. Ndubuisi, the winner of Enugu state governorship primaries murdered this morning.
A screenshot from the viral video.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is FALSE.
When the video frames were subjected to verification on Google Reverse Image Search, an image verification tool, the results show that it was an old video which has been on the internet since July 2021.
Investigation revealed that the video was first published online in a news report on the murder of Professor Samuel Ndubuisi, the then Director-General of the Science Equipment Development Institute (SEDI), Enugu state along the Enugu – Port Harcourt Expressway on the 7th of July, 2021.
The FactCheckHub also reached out to the Police Public Relations Officer of Enugu State Police Command, Daniel Ndukwe Ekea, who affirmed that no such event happened in the state last weekend.
“It has been debunked. It is an old story. The candidate was not assassinated, and no such thing happened in the state,” he said.
The media aide of the PDP governorship candidate, Dan Nwomeh, in a statement also debunked the assassination of his principal.
“We have been inundated with calls over fake news in circulation on some social media platforms on the purported assassination of the Enugu state PDP governorship flagbearer, Peter Ndubuisi Mbah.
“Our investigations indicate that the story was doctored from the video of the unfortunate gruesome assassination of one Dr. Ndubuisi (real name: Professor Samuel Ndubuisi), the director-general of the Science and Equipment Development Institute (SEDI), along the Enugu – Port Harcourt expressway.
“It is the mere coincidence of “Ndubuisi” in the two names that have been twisted by some devious and malevolent characters to spread unfounded panic and alarm amongst our genuinely concerned teeming supporters and well-wishers in Enugu State and beyond.
“We condemn this wicked, ill-conceived misinformation and urge the masterminds to play politics of moderation and sportsmanship, have the fear of God and develop respect for the sanctity of human life,” the statement read.
THE VERDICT
The claim that Peter Mbah Ndubuisi, the PDP governorship candidate in Enugu state, has been murdered is FALSE; findings show that the old video has been on the internet since July 2021.
As political parties held primary elections on Saturday, May 28, 2022, ahead of Nigeria’s 2023 general elections, a news report circulating online claimed that Professor Ben Ayade, the incumbent Governor of Cross River state has lost his senatorial bid in the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The report titled “Gov Ayade loses APC senatorial ticket” was published by Daily Post, a Nigerian newspaper.
Screenshot of the news report on the Daily Post website.
The publication based its report on the results of the primary “sighted by DAILY POST,” which shows that “Ayade polled 52 votes to crash out against Adams Cecelia, who scored 140. Another aspirant Martin Orim scored 61 votes.”
The news lead reads: “Governor of Cross River State, Ben Ayade has lost his bid to secure the All Progressives Congress, APC’s ticket to run for the Northern Senatorial District of the state.”
The reported result sheet has the full name and logo of the APC with sub-headings that read “Summary of Result Sheet for party primaries Northern Senatorial District”, and “Local government summary result sheet”.
The reported APC result sheet circulating online.
Another online newspaper, Peoples Gazette, also reported the same claim that Ayade lost the Senate primary.
But the publication titled its report thus: “Governor Ayade loses Senate primary after sex video scandal”.
Screenshot of the news report on the Peoples Gazette website.
But has Ayade lost at the party’s primaries?
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is mostly FALSE.
Media reports here, here and here show that Ayade collected the APC Presidential Nomination form on May 9, 2022.
About two weeks earlier, he publicly declared his intention to join the party’s presidential race for the 2023 election, The ICIR reported.
However, the APC presidential primary expected to hold on May 29 – 30 has been postponed by the party.
The National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Felix Morka, announced this today in a statement hours after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) extended the deadline for political parties to conduct their primaries.
“Following the Independent National Electoral Commission’s extension of deadline for the submission of list of candidates by political parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) hereby postpones its Special Convention for Presidential Primary from Sunday, 29th-Monday, 30th of May, 2020, to Monday, 6th-Wednesday, 8th of June, 2022,” the terse statement read.
Similarly, the Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to the Cross River State Governor, Christian Ita, has refuted claims that his principal participated in a senatorial primary on the platform of the APC.
In a statement titled, ‘Governor Ayade didn’t take part in any senatorial primaries – Aide,’ Ita confirmed that the state governor, Ben Ayade, is a presidential aspirant in the APC presidential convention now slated for June 6.
“We make bold to say that the so-called parallel primary election as contained in the said video was at best a poorly scripted skit comedy shot by three persons sitting in a room,” the statement read.
Ita described the video as “a joke taken too far”, and “a vapid, infantile but failed attempt at manipulation as the clowns behind it tragically forgot to also manufacture ballot boxes, delegates, observers and APC panel members.”
He added that the video was a handiwork of political desperadoes who were out to embarrass the governor.
“We wish to assure APC members and supporters, particularly in northern Cross River, that there were no parallel senatorial primaries in the district,” he said.
In conclusion, there is no publicly available record that he collected the party’s senatorial nomination form or participated in the party’s senatorial primaries.
Telegram has put up measures to curb misinformation in Brazil ahead of the country’s presidential election in October 2022.
In a report by Poynter’s International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), the cross-platform instant messaging app says it will create a channel of communication between itself and the Brazilian Supreme Court to receive regular reports on election disinformation in the Latin American nation.
It added that it will henceforth flag posts that contain false information about the election.
But this cooperation between the app and the government body has elicited reactions from fact-checkers from the region.
Bernado Barbosa, an assistant editor at UOL Confere, a fact-checking outlet and verified signatory to the IFCN said, “the agreement with the TSE (the Portuguese acronym for the Brazilian court) seems like a good first step from a tech company that a few months ago, didn’t even answer court orders from Brazil.
“I believe it is positive to cooperate with the electoral authorities and to signal misinformation about the elections, but we still have no clue on how Telegram will act on disinformation spread by candidates.”
Also commenting, Natália Leal, the CEO of Agência Lupa, another IFCN verified signatory and news outlet in Brazil, said, “they are addressing the problem of tackling misinformation as a legal or justice (department) issue and not as a product problem.”
“They don’t have any kind of monitoring tool; they don’t want to develop it. They want us to do the monitoring work, but they want to control the scope of monitoring,” she added.
The report noted that Facebook also collaborates with fact-checking organizations and built an infrastructure around giving fact-checkers greater access and tools for analysis to tackle misinformation.
On Facebook, fact-checkers can use an in-house platform to view trends, ways content is spreading on the platform and numerical information about viral posts.
Though Leal also stated misgivings about Facebook, she said the platform was better overall for fact-checkers than Telegram.
“They don’t want to develop any kind of tool like how we have with Facebook for the Third-Party Fact-Checking Program.
“We have the same access that any user has. You can download some numbers and some information from Telegram. It’s open, but it doesn’t mean it’s usable. It feels like they are not taking things seriously,” Leal said.
She added: “In my opinion, Telegram should define a misinformation policy before taking any step forward, and make this policy clear for all users. We don’t want to start to work with Telegram and have a target on our back because users do not have knowledge or are not being informed about the new rules of the platform regarding misinformation.”
