Nigeria held the first leg of the general election on February 25, and the second leg slated for March 11 was shifted to 18; in the build-up to the election, exaggerated, false and misleading claims saturated the media space.
Due to social media sites increasing dominance in Nigeria over the past couple of years, a new front in the country’s politics has emerged as politicians scramble to grab the attention of the nation’s millions of active social media users.
This report highlights actors, methods and colouration of pre-election disinformation in the country.
Festus Keyamo and Podium Reporters
On Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi…
Festus Keyamo, who doubles as the spokesman for the APC presidential election campaign council, in a post shared on his Twitter handle on August 26, reshared FALSE information from an online platform Podium Reporters (archived here) that Labour Party Presidential Candidate Peter Obi has agreed to clear path for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) flagbearer, Atiku Abubakar.
Sharing the report, Keyamo wrote, “We told the OBIdient soldiers that their ‘hero’ was taking them to nowhere; taking them for a ride of the century and for political 419! We laugh! We are ahead of them!”
However, in reaction to the published report and Keyamo’s tweet, the media office of the Obi-Datti 2023 Presidential Campaign debunked it while describing it as the handiwork of charitable propagandists who indulge in distorting facts in the pursuit of imaginary relevance for their paymasters.
Also, the then Director-General of the Obi-Datti Campaign Organisation, Doyin Okupe, debunked the claim.
Five months after the claim published on Podium Reporters that Peter Obi was planning to step down for Abubakar, yet again Keyamo made another tweet (archived here), where he amplified a content from an online platform, Western Post (archived here) and titled, “Peter Obi may step down for Atiku, as campaign council considers option,” that was FALSE.
Interestingly, Podium Reporters also published the same report, archived here.
The report read, “Having realised that there is no path to victory in next month’s general election, the campaign council of the Labour Party Presidential Candidate, Peter Obi, is already considering how the former Anambra State Governor will step down for Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party candidate.”
It further read, “Exclusive information gathered from top officials of the Peter Obi campaign team is that many of the associates of the Labour Party candidate and advisers have come to the realisation that the coming election is going to be a straight fight between APC and PDP.” (sic)
In a statement in reaction to the report, Obi-Datti Media Office described it as ridiculous and fake.
The statement reads, “Nothing can be more absurd than the fact that 18 persons are in a marathon to pick a trophy and somebody is suggesting that the front runner in the race who is already sighting the trophy wants to step down for somebody behind.
“The fact that other parties contesting for the president have been cloning the LP candidate in their corruptly induced gift items like bags of rice, posters and billboards speak volumes of who is the man to beat in this race.
Misleading exaggeration of size
Another claim shared by Festus Keyamo was on February 9, 2023, that showed a photo of an aerial image of a crowd that reportedly attended the campaign of Bola Tinubu in Sokoto state.
Keyamo tweeted the image (archived here) alongside three other photos with the caption, “More pictures from the mother of all rallies in Sokoto! The signs are all there for all to see! But they are playing! Make dem dey play!! In about a forth-night, the jungle will mature!!”
President Muhammadu Buhari and other APC members had, on February 9 2023, attended an APC-held rally in Sokoto State.
A Google Reverse Image search of the photo shows the aerial image was from July 31, 2021. Captured during a 4-Day music festival in Chicago, United States, known as Lollapalooza.
Colin Hinkle, an aerial photographer, took the image.
The photographer, Colin Hinkle, with the Twitter account @hinklecoli, in an interview with Business Insider Africa, published on August 4, 2021, said the image shows a large crowd who converged at the event in Chicago without wearing masks.
Podium Reporters, again
Another report published by Podium Reporters (archived here) claimed a former Senator, Dino Melaye and some other heavyweight PDP stalwarts smuggled N50 billion out of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The claim, published on February 3, 2023, also alleged that the Presidential Candidate of the PDP, Abubakar, was behind the current naira scarcity crisis.
It had said an anonymous whistle-blower released the information to a platform, Abuja News Network.
A check online and offline by The ICIR found no mention of the platform Abuja News Network, referenced by Podium Reporters to be the source of the report.
To further confirm the veracity of the claim, a mail was sent to podium****@gmail.com, an email address found on the Facebook page of Podium Reporters, requesting a link to the report on Abuja News Network.
A text message was also sent to a phone number found on the Facebook page of Podium Reporters requesting a link. A direct message was also sent to their Twitter account. The three messages have not been responded to as of the time of filing this report.
Also, a call was made to 0706****599, the same phone number found on the Facebook page of Podium Reporters, which was answered. A male picked up the call, and The ICIR reporter introduced himself and spoke on why he called, to which the receiver said, ‘OK‘ and dropped the call after listening to what the reporter said he wanted.
Manipulated visuals
Manipulated letter circulates about UK government and Alpha Beta
A post circulating on social media shows a letter alleging that the United Kingdom National Crime Agency (NCA) is investigating a Lagos-based consulting firm Alpha Beta for a case of laundering money through British banks to suspected drug dealers in Columbia.
The ICIR has spotted the alleged letter from NCA on Twitter and Facebook.
Alpha Beta, which has an exclusive right to collect funds on behalf of Lagos state, has been linked to the former Lagos Governor and 2023 Presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The Twitter post (archived here), was also shared in the same format on Facebook and the website, Nairaland.
Findings by The ICIR discovered that the letter being circulated claiming that the NCA is investigating Alpha Beta did not emanate from them.
The NCA Communications Manager Stuart Hadley, in response to an email enquiry by The ICIR on the letter’s authenticity, stated that the letter was a hoax.
Hadley also, in response to The ICIR enquiry email, if the agency is investigating Alpha Beta for laundering money through British banks to suspected drug dealers in Columbia, said NCA does not routinely confirm or deny the existence of investigations.
Video manipulated to show Dino Melaye calling for support for Peter Obi
A viral video showing a former Senator and a member of the Atiku Abubakar presidential campaign council Dino Melaye talking about Labour Party presidential candidate Obi has been shared, archived here by popular musician Charles Oputa also known as Charly Boy.
Captioned, “Dino confessing, PeterObPresident LabourParty2022”, was shared on February 3, 2023, by Charly Boy on his verified Twitter handle.
The video has garnered 94k watch time, 3,926 likes, 2,386 retweets, 264 quoted tweets and 663 comments.
The Melaye’s 38-second video was found to have originated from a TikTok account with the username @lolabearose.
Melaye praised Obi as a good man in the viral video. The Obi movement, he further said, should continue, and everyone should get involved.
Melaye, in the video, said, “I wanna say, it is time for us to think. I encourage the crusade, the movement started by Peter Obi, to continue, move from campus to campus, move from community to community, move from one progressive group and organisation in this country to another to campaign for the new Nigeria that is to come and be part of the movement.”
The video was subjected InVid video verification tool, and findings from the video fragmentation revealed the clip was taken out of context from a longer version.
The video was part of a 6-minute, 25 seconds video published by Melaye on his Youtube on July 6, 2022, titled ‘Peter Obi is fantastic and a good man, but he lacks the capacity to unify Nigerian’.
The original video, which lasted six minutes and twenty-five seconds, was cut down from exactly 4:30 to 4:58 to create the 38-second clip (6:25).
Melaye also shared the video on his Twitter handle on July 6 2022, captioned, “WATCH……SDM. Peter Obi is Fantastic and a good man, but he lacks capacity to unify Nigerians. Unity is more important than cutting cost of governance.” (sic)
On July 1 2022, Melaye shared a 6-minute, 25 seconds video of himself with the caption:
In the full video, Melaye pledged his support for PDP’s Atiku Abubakar and downplayed Obi’s candidacy ahead of the election.
Melaye further stated that Atiku is a unifier and outlined some qualities that make him the best candidate to be president.
False quotes and attributions
False quotes attributed to Peter Obi’s spokesperson
A post shared on Twitter, archived here, by a user claimed Kenneth Okonkwo, an actor and spokesperson to Labour Party Presidential Candidate, has said a vote for Peter Obi is a vote for Biafra.
The post read, “voting for Peter Obi is a vote for Biafra Nation. We won’t miss the opportunity – Kenneth Okonkwo (Peter Obi’s spokesperson).”
The post was shared using the Punch Newspaper social media card format.
A search on the Punch Newspaper website, Twitter and Facebook found no record of the post
It was also not reported by credible media platforms.
In addition, Okonkwo debunked the claim in a text message to The ICIR.
He said, “Senseless and misconceived. I believe in a United Nigeria based on equity, justice and fairness.”
Misleading context
On trucks leaving Tinubu’s Lagos house loaded with old naira notes…
A post circulating on Facebook has claimed that eight 40-foot containers loaded with old naira notes leaving the house of APC Presidential Candidate Bola Ahmed Tinubu were intercepted in Lagos.
The post was shared on January 28, 2023, showing two trucks allegedly loaded with old naira notes and a few dollars in bundles appeared on many pages on Facebook, including Igbo Times Magazine, “Daily Trust Hausa” and Hausa Linzami, among others.
The post reads: “Breaking News: 8 forty-fit container loads with cash captured leaving Tinubu Lagos house to Bank.
“8 forty-fit container truck loaded with old Naira notes has been captured leaving Tinubu Lagos house to bank [sic].”
The post on some of the pages that shared it on Facebook had Wisereporters as a hashtag.
Using Google Image Verifier, The ICIR found out that the first truck in the post, which showed a truck in front of a house, was a picture of one of the six trailers of rice donated to Delta communities by the Group Chairman of UBA Group and Heirs Tony Elumelu during the lockdown period necessitated by COVID-19 in April 2020.
The second trailer image on the post was a picture used by an online news outlet in a report titled, “What are the legal requirements for a Zimbabwe citizen to legally drive a truck in South Africa?”, published in March, 2020.
The image depicting the old naira notes and a few dollars in bunches was used by some online news platforms and Punch Newspaper in a report in November 2022 titled, “New naira: Rich Nigerians deposit bales of cash in banks” about the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) naira redesign and cashless policy.
On WiseReporter, it has been shared 1,169, 387 likes and 260 comments.
‘Cloned’ social media ‘Daily Trust Hausa’
The ICIR also found out that one of the pages on Facebook, Daily Trust Hausa, with 23k likes and 29k followers that published the claim, is a ‘cloned’ version of Aminiya, the Hausa publication of Media Trust.
Media Trust, the publisher of Daily Trust Newspaper, had in a report in January 2022 titled, “ALERT: Fraudsters Using Cloned Facebook Page, ‘Daily Trust Hausa’, To Deceive The Public”, distanced itself from ‘Daily Trust Hausa’.
Recycled claims
A post on Twitter claimed Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-rufai said he couldn’t be a running mate to the APC Presidential candidate Bola Ahmed Tinubu because he was too clean in 2019.
The post, a recycled 2019 report published by various online blogs on May 11, 2019, was shared by a Twitter user, @HaHayatu, on February 5 2023.
The report claimed El-Rufai spoke to Daily Mail through one of his aides, who refused to be named as he was not the official spokesman of the Governor said, “Nigerians know who a drug baron is. Nigerians know who was arrested and convicted of drug peddling in the US some decades ago. The Executive Governor of Kaduna State cannot be a running mate to such a person.”
The report read, “The Executive Governor of Kaduna State cannot be a running mate to such a person. Tinubu had allegedly tipped the Governor of Kaduna State as his running mate for the Presidency in 2023 but the Governor has not only turned such a move down but derided the former Lagos State Governor. He also went ahead to urge Lagosians to demystify Tinubu laying strategies on how to unmake a man called Lion of Bourdillon so as to stop him from being the godfather of Lagos politics.”
The report claimed El-rufai was referring to APC Presidential candidate Bola Tinubu.
The claim has been found on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Nairaland and some online platforms.
Findings
The post shared by @HaHayatu appeared on many online blogs, including Naijaloaded, “Kemifilani.ng, wap.org.ng, olumuyiwa.com.ng, and procyonnews.com” and others.
The ICIR found that the claim shared by @HaHayatu was from a 2019 article published by olumuyiwa.com.ng, archived here, on May 11 2022.
It was discovered that the claim published by olumuyiwa.com.ng was the same report published by all the online platforms sighted by The ICIR.
Further checks showed that before being picked up by online blogs, the claim was shared by PDP Vanguard (archived here), a Twitter account that tweets in support of the PDP which shared the post on May 10, 2019.
The tweet read, “I Can’t Be Running Mate To Drug Baron, Most Corrupt Nigerian, El-Rufai” Kaduna state governor rejects the proposed VP ticket from @AsiwajuTinubu.” (sic)
The claim shared by olumuyiwa.com.ng and other online platforms claimed the report was culled from an exclusive interview an unnamed aide had with Daily Mail.
The ICIR sent a message to olumuyiwa.com.ng on his Facebook page and an email found on his website, but at the time of filing this fact check, no response had been received.
A check was carried out on the Daily Mail UK website to verify the claim further, which brought no search on the report.
The Facebook and Twitter pages of Daily Mail UK were scanned through but found no results about the report.
To Further check, The ICIR decided to see if any platform exists in Nigeria with the name Daily Mail. The ICIR found three Facebook pages bearing Daily Mail with Nigerian content.
Daily Mail Nigeria, DailyMail gist and Daily Mail Nigeria (dailymailng.com).
One of the pages, Daily Mail Gist, was the only Facebook page to have published the same report on May 12, 2019.
It was also discovered that @HaHayatu had earlier shared the claim on his Twitter account on May 11 2019, from a now unavailable website titled Daily Mail Online (dailymailonline.com.ng) with the same headline, “I can’t be running mate to drug baron, most corrupt Nigerian – El-Rufai”, found on different social media accounts and online platforms.
Efforts to check the content of the URL link Hamma posted on Twitter proved abortive as the website appears to have been brought down by the administrators or the hosting for the website had expired.
Olayinka works with The ICIR as the Social Media Manager, Reporter and Fact-checker. You can shoot him an email via [email protected]. You can as well follow him on Twitter via @BelloYinka72