{"id":26981,"date":"2025-12-30T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/?p=26981"},"modified":"2026-01-01T01:22:46","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T00:22:46","slug":"6-statements-falsely-attributed-to-government-officials-in-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/6-statements-falsely-attributed-to-government-officials-in-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Six statements falsely attributed to government officials in 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Full Text<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

False attribution occurs when statements, quotes, or announcements are incorrectly linked to government officials who never made them. These incidents often arise from misinformation, attempts to influence public opinion, or deliberate efforts to undermine trust in these institutions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are six statements attributed to government officials that DUBAWA checked in 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Did Southwest governors shut boundaries against Northern muslims?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    A Facebook user claimed that South-West governors allegedly ordered the closure of all boundaries linking the region to Northern Nigeria to prevent Muslim fighters from entering Yoruba land, during what he described as \u201cTrump\u2019s war.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Attached to the post was a picture of six governors from the South-West region: Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos), Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Ademola Adeleke (Osun), Biodun Oyebanji (Ekiti), and Lucky Aiyedatiwa (Ondo).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    DUBAWA investigated<\/a> the claim and found no supporting evidence. No official statements or credible media reports confirmed such an order. The only recorded boundary closures by these governors were during the COVID-19 pandemic for public health purposes, unrelated to religion or foreign threats. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Officials from Osun and Lagos states dismissed the claim as baseless, emphasising it was intended to incite fear and violence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    1. A Facebook post claims Abia governor issued threats against Lagos<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      A Facebook user claimed that Alex Otti, the governor of Abia State, threatened to disassociate from Lagos State. Otti allegedly promised to divert economic activities from Lagos to Abia State after his administration develops Abia State beyond imagination. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      DUBAWA<\/a>, however, checked and found no credible report ofestablished that there was no credible report on the statement attributed to the Abia State governor. A press release issued by Ferdinand Ekeoma, the governor\u2019s aide on media and publicity, also debunked the viral claim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n
      1. Obasanjo claimed Igbos control Lagos through ownership and investment<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

        An Instagram post alleged that former President Olusegun Obasanjo stated that the Igbos do not need to fight the Yorubas to \u201cwin Lagos\u201d. The post claimed the ex-president said most Yorubas live in houses owned by Igbo landlords, and that Lagos would be \u201cempty overnight\u201d if the Igbos withdrew their support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        DUBAWA\u2019s fact-check foundrevealed that there was<\/a> no credible report or statement to support this claim. The link attached to the post redirects to random, unrelated Facebook pages. Domain checks also showed it was from a newly registered, unverified website. Obasanjo\u2019s media aide, Kehinde Akinyemi, dismissed the claim as false.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          \n
        1. Putin threatened to wipe Nigeria off the map over alleged interference<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

          Another claim checked in 2025 was a narrative shared by a Facebook account that Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to \u201cwipe Nigeria off the map\u201d if the country continues to meddle in Burkina Faso\u2019s affairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          The claim was accompanied by a one-minute, 17-second video featuring a woman who announced the threat. She said, \u201cThis fresh news is just coming in. Russia is sending a strong warning to Nigeria, and I specifically mean the Nigerian government. If they attempt to bring Ibrahim Traore down, Vladimir Putin has said Nigeria will be swept from the map of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Using relevant keywords, DUBAWA<\/a> attempted to verify the statement but found no evidence to support it  attempted to verify the statement but found no evidence to support the claim. Neither local nor international news outlets reported or recorded any such incident. Further checks showed that the claim originated from social media and has no support from credible sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \n
          1. FG is giving N185,000 family support to Nigerians?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

            A viral WhatsApp message claimed that the Federal Government of Nigeria launched a National Family Support Allowance offering \u20a6185,000 to every Nigerian for message on WhatsApp claimed that the Federal Government of Nigeria launched a National Family Support Allowance offering \u20a6185,000 to every Nigerian for a period of three months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            The message claimed Nigerian President Bola Tinubu allegedly asked the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Nentawe Yilwatda, to open the national family support scheme. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            DUBAWA\u2019s findings<\/a>, however, showed there was no evidence of a legitimate scheme under this name. The alleged development was not published on any credible news platform, government website, or official social media handles of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Additionally, we clicked the link and observed that the website was designed as clickbait to collect applicants\u2019 details for phishingweb link and observed that the website was created as clickbait to collect applicants\u2019 details that could be used for phishing purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

              \n
            1. Nigeria\u2019s Chief of Defence Staff proposed closing the country\u2019s land borders<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

              A Facebook page, Sierra Gist, claimed that Nigeria\u2019s former Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, who is now the Minister of Defence, proposed closing the country\u2019s land borders with Cameroon, Niger, Benin, and Chad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

              However, when we checked<\/a>, we discovered that General Musa only proposed fencing Nigeria\u2019s borders, not closing them. His statement focused on improving border security infrastructure, not halting all cross-border movement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

              Full Text False attribution occurs when statements, quotes, or announcements are incorrectly linked to government officials who never made them. These incidents often arise from misinformation, attempts to influence public opinion, or deliberate efforts to undermine trust in these institutions.  These are six statements attributed to government officials that DUBAWA checked in 2025.  A Facebook user claimed that South-West governors allegedly ordered the closure of all boundaries linking the region to Northern Nigeria to prevent Muslim fighters from entering Yoruba land, during what he described as \u201cTrump\u2019s war.\u201d  Attached to the post was a picture of six governors from the South-West region: Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos), Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Ademola Adeleke (Osun), Biodun Oyebanji (Ekiti), and Lucky Aiyedatiwa (Ondo). DUBAWA investigated the claim and found no supporting evidence. No official statements or credible media reports confirmed such an order. The only recorded boundary closures by these governors were during the COVID-19 pandemic for public health purposes, unrelated to religion or foreign threats.  Officials from Osun and Lagos states dismissed the claim as baseless, emphasising it was intended to incite fear and violence.  A Facebook user claimed that Alex Otti, the governor of Abia State, threatened to disassociate from Lagos State. Otti allegedly promised to divert economic activities from Lagos to Abia State after his administration develops Abia State beyond imagination.  DUBAWA, however, checked and found no credible report ofestablished that there was no credible report on the statement attributed to the Abia State governor. A press release issued by Ferdinand Ekeoma, the governor\u2019s aide on media and publicity, also debunked the viral claim. An Instagram post alleged that former President Olusegun Obasanjo stated that the Igbos do not need to fight the Yorubas to \u201cwin Lagos\u201d. The post claimed the ex-president said most Yorubas live in houses owned by Igbo landlords, and that Lagos would be \u201cempty overnight\u201d if the Igbos withdrew their support. DUBAWA\u2019s fact-check foundrevealed that there was no credible report or statement to support this claim. The link attached to the post redirects to random, unrelated Facebook pages. Domain checks also showed it was from a newly registered, unverified website. Obasanjo\u2019s media aide, Kehinde Akinyemi, dismissed the claim as false. Another claim checked in 2025 was a narrative shared by a Facebook account that Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to \u201cwipe Nigeria off the map\u201d if the country continues to meddle in Burkina Faso\u2019s affairs. The claim was accompanied by a one-minute, 17-second video featuring a woman who announced the threat. She said, \u201cThis fresh news is just coming in. Russia is sending a strong warning to Nigeria, and I specifically mean the Nigerian government. If they attempt to bring Ibrahim Traore down, Vladimir Putin has said Nigeria will be swept from the map of the world.\u201d Using relevant keywords, DUBAWA attempted to verify the statement but found no evidence to support it  attempted to verify the statement but found no evidence to support the claim. Neither local nor international news outlets reported or recorded any such incident. Further checks showed that the claim originated from social media and has no support from credible sources. A viral WhatsApp message claimed that the Federal Government of Nigeria launched a National Family Support Allowance offering \u20a6185,000 to every Nigerian for message on WhatsApp claimed that the Federal Government of Nigeria launched a National Family Support Allowance offering \u20a6185,000 to every Nigerian for a period of three months. The message claimed Nigerian President Bola Tinubu allegedly asked the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Nentawe Yilwatda, to open the national family support scheme.  DUBAWA\u2019s findings, however, showed there was no evidence of a legitimate scheme under this name. The alleged development was not published on any credible news platform, government website, or official social media handles of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs. Additionally, we clicked the link and observed that the website was designed as clickbait to collect applicants\u2019 details for phishingweb link and observed that the website was created as clickbait to collect applicants\u2019 details that could be used for phishing purposes. A Facebook page, Sierra Gist, claimed that Nigeria\u2019s former Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, who is now the Minister of Defence, proposed closing the country\u2019s land borders with Cameroon, Niger, Benin, and Chad. However, when we checked, we discovered that General Musa only proposed fencing Nigeria\u2019s borders, not closing them. His statement focused on improving border security infrastructure, not halting all cross-border movement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26982,"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":[1571,3812,3815,16],"tags":[],"verdict":[],"ppma_author":[3793],"class_list":["post-26981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fact-check","category-headline","category-homepage","category-politics"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8R6dE-71b","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\/12\/image-139.jpeg?fit=218%2C231&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26981","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=26981"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26981\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27016,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26981\/revisions\/27016"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26981"},{"taxonomy":"verdict","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/verdict?post=26981"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=26981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}