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Claim: A political stalwart of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Adamu Garba II, has claimed via his Facebook account that Algeria plans to give Niger Republic free electricity to cushion the sanction meted on them by ECOWAS.
Verdict: FALSE. Neither has the Algerian government made such an announcement, nor did the Nigerien military government acknowledge the claim. Also, no mainstream media platform has reported any claim relating to it.
Full Text
Different reactions trail the coup in Niger on July 26 that ousted President Mohamed Bazoum and ushered in the presidential guard commander-general, Abdourahamane Tchiani, as the head of the military junta.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) -the West African political and economic bloc- declared harsh sanctions against the erring country after closing land and air borders that Niger shared with member-states. Also, the regional bloc suspended all financial assistance that Niger was enjoying as a union member and froze all economic transactions connected with the country.
Nigeria’s president, Bola Tinubu, the chairman of the organisation, went a step further by disconnecting Niger from Nigeria’s electricity supply on August 3, heaping pressure on the military to restore democracy.
Recent news also revealed that Niger owes Nigeria more than $5.48 million in electricity. According to the Nigerian Electricity Regulation Commission (NERC), Benin Republic ($7.31 million) and Togo ($3.32 million) are other international customers owing Nigeria in electricity.
Though they opposed the Niger coup, Algeria -a northern neighbour- stood against any external military intervention in the embattled country.
When Adamu Garba, a former presidential aspirant under the All Progressive Congress (APC), posted on Facebook on August 12 that Algeria intends to supply Niger with free electricity, the news was surprising as it indicated a possible breach of diplomacy between the affected countries. As we filed this report, the post generated 236 reactions, 63 comments, and 15 reshares.
The implication of the news on bilateral relations and the reactions it gathered made us run a fact check.
Verification
We attempted to search online for reports of the news. We found the statement on an unknown blogspot named JKCYNO blog. However, the news was written like a rumour on the blog, lacking some reporting elements.
The only other platform with the news was the Nairaland forum, an online community. But it no longer existed when we clicked the link containing the information.
Aside from these, no credible media platform reported news of such importance, either in Africa or beyond. Also, no country or diplomatic/political expert reacted to such news via interviews on media appearance or their social media platforms -which would have gotten reactions if it was true.
The mail and calls we made to the Algeria embassy in Niamey went unanswered when we filed this report.
Conclusion
Algeria is not planning to give Niger electricity, let alone free supply. Therefore, the claim from Adamu Garba II is false.
