{"id":22410,"date":"2025-04-23T09:49:45","date_gmt":"2025-04-23T08:49:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/?p=22410"},"modified":"2025-04-25T15:27:06","modified_gmt":"2025-04-25T14:27:06","slug":"hoax-nigerian-juju-musician-ebenezer-obey-not-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/hoax-nigerian-juju-musician-ebenezer-obey-not-dead\/","title":{"rendered":"HOAX! Nigerian juju musician, Ebenezer Obey, not dead"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Claim: A Facebook user asserts<\/a> that Nigerian music legend Ebenezer Obey-Fabiyi is dead.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Verdict: False! The musician debunked the rumour, and credible sources also reported the story to prove the claim is false. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Text <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ebenezer Obey, a veteran Nigerian musician, singer, and band leader, is considered<\/a> one of Nigeria’s most influential and successful musicians. He is often referred to as the “Chief Commander.” The renowned Juju music icon and Evangelist recently turned 83 on April 3, 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tunde Sobowale, a Facebook user, asserted<\/a> that the Nigerian juju musician, Ebenezer Obey, is dead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRest in perfect peace in the Lord, sir Ebenezer obey, commander is dead,\u201d Tunde wrote. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of his fame and personality, news of the death gained traction and was shared on blogs<\/a> and social media. The claim was shared on Facebook here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, and here<\/a>, and on X<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given the virality of the claim, the personality involved, and the emotional strain it could cause fans, DUBAWA decided to verify its authenticity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verification <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

DUBAWA conducted a keyword search to find what credible news outlets have reported about the music legend, but we found nothing. However, we found a video released by Ebenezer Obey on his Instagram<\/a> page with the caption \u201cI AM ALIVE!!!!!\u201d refuting the claim about his death. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In high spirits, Obey sings in Yoruba, English and pidgin that he is not dead. \u201cIt is fake news that started a few hours ago claiming that I, Evangelist Obey, have passed on to glory. It is a lie. I am alive,\u201d he declared in the post. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The legend\u2018s aide, Tope Olukole, also confirmed this to TVC News. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLet\u2019s set the record straight: Ebenezer Obey Fabiyi is alive and thriving! He recently celebrated a joyous occasion\u2014 the 50th birthday of his second child\u2019s spouse. Rumours of his passing are baseless and entirely unfounded. We\u2019re glad to see him active and well,\u201d his aide told TVC News<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Punchng<\/a>, Tribune Online<\/a> and The Nation Newspapers<\/a> also corroborated the story, proving the news is false. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The claim that Ebenezer Obey has died is false. The veteran musician and his aide debunked the rumour, and credible sources also reported the story to prove the false claim. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Claim: A Facebook user asserts that Nigerian music legend Ebenezer Obey-Fabiyi is dead. Verdict: False! The musician debunked the rumour, and credible sources also reported the story to prove the claim is false.  Full Text  Ebenezer Obey, a veteran Nigerian musician, singer, and band leader, is considered one of Nigeria’s most influential and successful musicians. He is often referred to as the “Chief Commander.” The renowned Juju music icon and Evangelist recently turned 83 on April 3, 2025. Tunde Sobowale, a Facebook user, asserted that the Nigerian juju musician, Ebenezer Obey, is dead.  \u201cRest in perfect peace in the Lord, sir Ebenezer obey, commander is dead,\u201d Tunde wrote.  Because of his fame and personality, news of the death gained traction and was shared on blogs and social media. The claim was shared on Facebook here, here, here, and here, and on X.  Given the virality of the claim, the personality involved, and the emotional strain it could cause fans, DUBAWA decided to verify its authenticity. Verification  DUBAWA conducted a keyword search to find what credible news outlets have reported about the music legend, but we found nothing. However, we found a video released by Ebenezer Obey on his Instagram page with the caption \u201cI AM ALIVE!!!!!\u201d refuting the claim about his death.  In high spirits, Obey sings in Yoruba, English and pidgin that he is not dead. \u201cIt is fake news that started a few hours ago claiming that I, Evangelist Obey, have passed on to glory. It is a lie. I am alive,\u201d he declared in the post.  The legend\u2018s aide, Tope Olukole, also confirmed this to TVC News.  \u201cLet\u2019s set the record straight: Ebenezer Obey Fabiyi is alive and thriving! He recently celebrated a joyous occasion\u2014 the 50th birthday of his second child\u2019s spouse. Rumours of his passing are baseless and entirely unfounded. We\u2019re glad to see him active and well,\u201d his aide told TVC News.  Punchng, Tribune Online and The Nation Newspapers also corroborated the story, proving the news is false.  Conclusion  The claim that Ebenezer Obey has died is false. The veteran musician and his aide debunked the rumour, and credible sources also reported the story to prove the false claim. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22411,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"hannibal_claim_source":"","hannibal_source_label":"","hannibal_card_color":"blue","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_bluesky_share_type":"","_mastodon_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[1571,437,3812,3815,123],"tags":[],"verdict":[],"ppma_author":[3793],"class_list":["post-22410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fact-check","category-facebook-checks","category-headline","category-homepage","category-mainstream"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8R6dE-5Ps","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"authors":[{"term_id":3793,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"lademi-aborisade","display_name":"Lademi Aborisade","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&r=g","author_category":"","user_url":"","last_name":"","first_name":"","job_title":"","description":""}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Obey.jpg?fit=1280%2C800&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22410"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22410\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22454,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22410\/revisions\/22454"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22410"},{"taxonomy":"verdict","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/verdict?post=22410"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=22410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}