POPULAR Nigerian blog, Instablog9ja, has claimed that Primate Elijah Ayodele’s prediction regarding Luton Town Vs Liverpool match of November 5, 2023 has come ‘true’.
The claim, posted on its X handle on the night of November 5, 2023, has garnered over a million views. The blog has over 3 million followers on its X account.
The post read: “Liverpool Vs Luton Town: Worldwide jubilation as Pastor Primate Ayodele’s prediction comes ‘true’.”
Primate Ayodele, a clergy, is the leader of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church who made a series of football predictions in Game Week 11 of the English Premier League (EPL).
CLAIM
Instablog9ja says Primate Ayodele’s prediction on Luton Town Vs Liverpool match has come ‘true.’
THE FINDINGS
Checks show that the claim is FALSE.
This reporter traced the video in which Primate Ayodele made the prediction to his TikTok account: @primateayodele.
The clergy had projected that Liverpool would beat Luton Town, but the prediction failed as the game ended in a 1-1 draw with the team at home. This is in contrast to the claim posted by Instablog9ja.
In Ayodele’s prediction, he had said that: “Liverpool versus Luton, Liverpool will beat Luton very well; Liverpool will beat them by more than two goals.”
This is not the first time the clergyman would be making predictions on sports, politics, and economy, among others.
In the past, the clergy had made a prediction that Manchester City would beat Bournemouth convincingly, which later turned out to be true as the game ended 6-1 in favour of Manchester City.
Media reports as published by Legit.ng and others revealed that netizens had mocked the clergyman following the failed prediction except for Instablog9ja which (erroneously) stated that his prediction came ‘true’. The blog, however, did not indicate if its post was a satire.
THE VERDICT
Instablog9ja’s post which claimed that Primate Ayodele’s prediction on Luton Town Vs Liverpool match has come ‘true’ is FALSE; as the football match ended in a draw.
* This fact-check was written by Habeeb Daranijo, a fellow of the ICIR’s Countering Misinformation and Promoting Media Literacy project, supported by the German Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria.
