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Claim: A Facebook user shared a video asserting that President Tinubu has assured the people of Edo State that the All Progressives Congress (APC) will emerge as a winner in the upcoming Edo State election.
Verdict: Misleading! Contrary to the claim, the video shared by the Facebook user dates back to 2022, when Mr Tinubu was campaigning to be the APC presidential flag bearer.
Full Text
The upcoming Edo State gubernatorial election, which will be held in September 2024, is fiercely contested among the major political parties in the country. It has been marred by controversy, with internal strife and heightened tension ahead of the vote.
In light of this, Facebook user Jack Obinyan shared a video alleging President Tinubu expressed his support for the All Progressive Congress (APC) in the forthcoming Edo election.
He captioned the post, “I am the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I will give Edo back to you—Tinubu to Edo APC on #Edo2024.”
In the video clip, President Tinubu assures Edo State of becoming as developed and beautiful as Lagos State.
“We are still going to fight further; don’t worry, we are with you. You will not walk alone.
“One thing I can assure you is this: Do you want Edo back? As the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I will give Edo back to you. Edo will turn into a beautiful state, if not more beautiful, and will be equal to Lagos. Be assured of that,” he said.
Available data on the post shows that it has gained about 207 likes, 402 comments, and 56 reposts.
Results from DUBAWA’s check show that the footage with similar claims has been posted on X (formerly Twitter). See here, here, here, and here.
Some users criticised the president’s statement in the comment section, while others shared diverse perspectives.
“Reckless and shameless statement(s) coming from a disaster in power,” Dayo Babatunde, a user on the application, commented.
Another user, Ohamara Chinyere, asserted: “Empty noise. He has no value in Edo because Edo people are wise.”
“Edo people making una no worry, they don rig the election already, all those talk na story,” said Joseph Archibong.
Reacting to the video, Felix Osagie said: “You want to take Edo to destroy it? God forbid bad thing(s).”
Due to the sensitive nature of the claim, DUBAWA decided to verify it to set the record straight.
Verification
We subjected the screenshot of the video to a Google Reverse Image Search, and we came across a complete YouTube video posted in May 2022 in which Mr Tinubu expressed support for the delegates of the All Progressives Congress in the state.
He said this between the eighth minute and 40 seconds and the tenth minute and 50 seconds of the video.
This was ahead of the party’s presidential primary election, held in June 2022, which made Tinubu the party’s flagbearer in the 2023 general elections. The president promised Edo people in the video to make the state as beautiful as Lagos State.
A further search revealed a YouTube video published on Apr. 28, 2023, with a similar context to the footage posted by the Facebook user.
Furthermore, we examined media reports to understand the video’s content. A report by The Cable on May 21, 2022, showed Mr Tinubu assuring the residents of Edo State that, if elected president, he would make the state as prosperous as Lagos.
Finally, we ran keyword research to determine whether any reputable media outlet published a recent report of President Tinubu endorsing Edo State candidates but found no supporting information.
Conclusion
Based on our findings, the video in question has been online since 2022 and was not made to draw support for any candidate at the forthcoming gubernatorial election in Edo, as claimed by the Facebook user.
