A video of Nigeria’s president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, condemning BBC’s recent investigation on the late Prophet T.B. Joshua has been circulating on the internet.
The video which was posted by a TikTok user @teken_2 on the app has been circulating online and has made its way to WhatsApp groups.
In the footage, the president was seated on an official seat in the usual manner whenever he wants to make a national broadcast. The video also contained visuals of TB Joshua on his different outings.
The 28-second footage had an inscription on it that read: “Tinubu blasts BBC over TB Joshua documentary.”
The transcript of what President Tinubu said in the footage read thus:
I the president of Nigeria reject every documentary and evidence made by BBC against our noble prophet, Prophet TB Joshua . He was a good man and he brought so many foreigners while I was governor, they hate him because he is from a black country.
It will be recalled that the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) had released a documentary earlier this month on the sins of the late Prophet T.B. Joshua which had generated controversial conversations amongst Nigerians.
The footage, posted on January 16, 2023, has since garnered over 40,500 likes, more than 2,700 comments and over 6,000 reshares as of January 20.
The video can also be seen here, here and here.
CLAIM
President Tinubu criticizes BBC over T.B. Joshua documentary.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is MISLEADING!
A close look at the footage shows that it was doctored. The audio is not in sync with the visual-motion. Another careful look at the video also shows that the lips and hands are only moving in a particular manner throughout the video – a common feature of AI-generated video and deep fakes.
Listening to the audio, it also revealed that some of the words like ‘Lagos’ was not pronounced correctly. It was pronounced ‘La + Gos’ and not ‘Lay+ Gos’ the way most Nigerians pronounces it locally. The sentences were also muddled up together, there were no pause or intervals at some point of the video.
Further checks revealed that the video doctored from the original video of President Tinubu’s national broadcast to Nigerians on New Year’s day on the 1st of January, 2024.
THE VERDICT
The claim that President Tinubu criticized BBC’s documentary on the late Prophet T.B. Joshua is MISLEADING; the video in circulation is doctored.
Seasoned fact-checker and researcher Fatimah Quadri has written numerous fact-checks, explainers, and media literacy pieces for The FactCheckHub in an effort to combat information disorder. She can be reached at sunmibola_q on X or [email protected].
