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Old Peter Obi video resurfaced with misleading claim he defended ‘Yahoo boys’

Nurudeen Akewushola
Nurudeen Akewushola
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Peter Obi
File Photo: Peter Obi

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A VIDEO showing the presidential candidate of Nigeria Democratic Congress, Peter Obi, speaking inside aircraft has resurfaced on social media with a claim that he defended young people involved in internet fraud, popularly known as “Yahoo Yahoo.”

An X user, @Wokene, shared the video with the caption:

“Stop crippling the business of small boys doing yahoo, focus on politicians stealing billions.” – Peter Obi

The post, shared three days before this report, had generated over 180 reposts and more than 400 likes as at the time of filing this report.

The video shows Obi speaking from inside an aircraft. He is heard criticising what he described as the arrest and profiling of young people carrying laptops while people accused of stealing public funds allegedly escape accountability.

CLAIM

Peter Obi asked authorities to stop “crippling the business of small boys doing Yahoo.”

FINDINGS

Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is MISLEADING.

The video attached to the claim is not recent. An earlier version of the footage was posted on Facebook by Chudy Okonkwo on 23 July 2022, during the build-up to Nigeria’s 2023 presidential election.

The post was accompanied by the same video showing Obi speaking from inside an aircraft.

This establishes that the footage has been online since July 2022 and did not originate from a recent event.

However, a review of the video shows that the viral caption does not accurately reflect Obi’s words.

Obi did not say, “Stop crippling the business of small boys doing Yahoo.”

Instead, he said:

“They are crippling these young people. If they carry computer, you arrest them and call 419. People are stealing public money and getting away with it. Somebody stole 80bn and you gave him bail. Small boys carrying laptop becomes criminals.”

Obi’s remarks compared the treatment of young people suspected of internet fraud with what he described as the failure to adequately hold people accused of stealing public funds accountable.

The viral caption, however, presents his comments differently by suggesting that Obi described internet fraud as a legitimate “business” and called for those involved to be allowed to continue.

VERDICT

The claim that Peter Obi asked authorities to stop “crippling the business of small boys doing Yahoo” is MISLEADING. The video is old and has been online since July 2022, during the build-up to the 2023 presidential election.

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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 nyahaya@icirnigeria.org and @NurudeenAkewus1 via Twitter.

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