FOLLOWING the criticism that trailed the nationwide broadcast delivered by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on August 4, the official X accounts of the president and Nigerian Presidency have posted an old video showing the president urging the citizens to be calm and patient.
The video was posted on the presidency’s X handle, @NGRPresident, on August 7 with a caption that read:
“A passionate plea from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu @officialABAT to all Nigerians. “Nigeria will enter a new dawn”
The video has garnered over 1,000 likes, more than 600 reposts and over 150,000 views as of August 9, 2024.
However, the same video was also posted without any caption on the official account of the president same day. It has generated over 4,000 reposts and more than 13,000 likes and over 1 million views as of August 9, 2024.
The video which showed the president addressing the citizens was reported as a follow-up speech to the one delivered earlier on August 4 in some sections of the media.
For instance, The Nation newspaper ran with the headline: Tinubu urges Nigerians to remain calm, patient in another broadcast.
CLAIM
Video shows Tinubu addressing Nigerians in another broadcast on August 7.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is MISLEADING.
Since August 1, hundreds of Nigerians have taken to the streets to demand economic and political reforms including reversal of some government policies. The protests which began peacefully, later turned violent in many states leading to deaths of some Nigerians and destruction of properties.
Dubbed #EndbadGovernanceinNigeria, the protest movement has won widespread support with an online campaign that called for the government to reduce fuel prices and tackle the increasing cost of living, among other demands.
To douse the escalating tension across the country, the President addressed citizens in the early hours of Sunday, August 4, 2024.
However, the address sparked significant criticism from various quarters as it failed to directly address the primary demands of the protesters across the country.
Analysts say the speech shows a clear disconnect between the President and the people showing that the government is oblivious of the daily struggles of the average citizen.
The FactCheckHub also verified some claims made by the president in his August 4th speech. You can read it here.
In what appeared like an attempt to fix this communication gap, the Presidency released another video on August 7 but findings by The FactCheckHub show that the video is an extract from an old broadcast by Tinubu.
A Google reverse image search conducted on some keyframes obtained from the video showed that the longer version was posted by the Nigerian Presidency on July 31, 2023. The text version was also posted on the Presidency’s website same day.
However, a part of the speech where the president acknowledged hardships caused by subsidy removal and reassured Nigerians of his plans to make Education more affordable has been extracted and recirculated.
The part reads: “Fellow Nigerians, this period may be hard on us and there’s no doubt that it is tough on us but I urge you all to look beyond the present temporary pains and aim at the larger picture. All our good and helpful plans are in the works. More importantly, I know that they will work. Sadly, there was an avoidable lag between subsidy removal and these plans coming fully online.
“I plead with you, please, have faith in our ability to deliver and in our concern for your well-being. We will get out of this turbulence and due to the measures we have taken, Nigeria will be better equipped and able to take advantage of the future that awaits her.
“For example, we shall fulfill our promise to make education more affordable to all and provide loans to higher education students who may need them. No Nigerian students will have to abandon the higher education system because of a lack of money.
“Our commitment is to promote the greatest good for the greatest number of our people. On principle, we shall never falter, I assure you, my fellow countrymen and women, that we are exiting the darkness to enter a new and glorious dawn. Now, I must get back to work in order to make this vision come true.”
THE VERDICT
The claim that the video shows a recent broadcast by Tinubu is MISLEADING; the video was taken from a part of his speech he delivered in July 2023 – about two months after his inauguration as Nigeria’s president.
Nurudeen Akewushola is a fact-checker with FactCheckHub. He has authored several fact checks which have contributed to the fight against information disorder. You can reach him via [email protected] and @NurudeenAkewus1 via Twitter.
