A video clip of Ben Ayade, an ex-governor of Cross River State addressing youths, has surfaced on social media with a claim that Ayade was on the streets to caution youths to shelve the planned nationwide protests starting on August 1, 2024.
A verified X user @Gen_buhar posted the two minutes, twenty three seconds footage on July 27, 2024 with a caption that read:
“The immediate past Governor, Professor Ben Ayade was on the Streets of Calabar talking to people. Our Governors, NASS members and Ministers should return home now and engage their constituencies. Help Mr President. Don’t wait until it happens”.
In the footage, Ayade, who served as Senator for Cross River North from 2011 to 2015 and also a current member of ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), could be seen behind security officials addressing hundreds of youth.
The former governor urged the youth not to destroy Calabar and the nation, adding that he understands their pain, agony and hunger in the state in particular.
CLAIM
Ayade addresses youths, urges them to shelve planned nationwide August protest.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub indicate that the claim is MISLEADING, as the video has been online since 2020.
This fact-checker subjected screenshots from the clip to a Google Reverse Image search. The result shows that the video has been online as far back as 2020.
A Facebook page, Instablog9ja, posted the same clip on October 28, 2020.
Furthermore, an online medium, Tori.ng, reported how the ex-governor hid behind his security personnel to address residents in the state after looters broke into warehouses in search of “Covid-19 palliatives” in 2020.
“Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River stood behind his security personnel to address residents of the state.
“For days, looters have been breaking into warehouses in search of “Covid-19 palliatives” to loot. Hoodlums have also been destroying private and public properties in the name of looting.
“Following days of destruction, Governor Ben Ayade came out to address his people. He appealed to them to desist from destroying private and public properties. He added that he empathizes with them, understands the poverty in the land, and wishes he could make them all “billionaires”,” part of the report stated.
Further checks revealed that the same clip was posted by another Facebook page, IK Osamede Backup on October 28, 2020 with a caption that Ben Ayade hid behind layers of security as he addressed his people following days of vandalism during the COVID period.
THE VERDICT
The claim that Ayade addressed youths and urged them to shelve planned nationwide August protest is MISLEADING; it is an old footage from an event that happened in October 2020.