PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari, on Thursday, June 17, visited Borno State on a one-day working visit.
After the visit, however, an old and unrelated picture surfaced online, claiming that the photo was taken during president’s visit to the state. But it was Buhari’s 2019 campaign picture.
Special Adviser to Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Drainage & Water Resources Joe Igbokwe, on Thursday, took to his Facebook page to share five pictures, saying they all emanated from the president’s visit to Borno.
“No He is not campaigning, he is just on an official visit. No Nigerian leader alive can attract people in a way he does. Only PMB can do this,” his post read.
The Claim
Igbokwe’s claim was that the picture of crowd in an open space was that of Buhari’s visit to Borno State in June 2021.
The Findings
Checks by The FactCheckHub showed that the picture in question emanated from the President Muhammadu Buhari’s campaign visit to Jos, Plateau State, in 2019.
Google Reverse Image search revealed that the picture was from Buhari’s campaign visit to Borno State on January 19, 2019, as reported here.
This is not the first time Igbokwe would be posting an old photo as new. Earlier in June, he had shared photos from 2019 as an event that happened in 2021 in relation to the Greenfield students’ abduction in Kaduna State. This was debunked by The ICIR.
The Verdict
The picture of the crowd in an open space is not of Buhari’s recent visit to Borno State but of his 2019 campaign visit to Jos. Hence Joe Igbokwe’s claim is MISLEADING.
'Niyi worked with The ICIR as an Investigative Reporter and Fact-checker from 2020 till September 2022. You can shoot him an email via [email protected]. You can as well follow him on Twitter via @niyi_oyedeji.