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The daily spread of online and offline misinformation highlights the critical need for Media and Information Literacy and effective verification practices.
Here are some claims DUBAWA fact-checked in the past week.
- Mali is the first debt-free African nation.
An X user @African Hub_ shared a post claiming that Mali has become the first African country to completely pay off its debt, stating that it has cleared over $300 million.
When DUBAWA verified, we discovered that while the country may have cleared $332 million in internal arrears, its overall public debt remains high. The claim exaggerated a partial debt payment into a complete narrative of economic redemption.
- Another image used to portray violence in Benue
Recently, armed groups launched an attack, killing residents and destroying livelihoods worth millions in Yelewata, an agrarian community in Benue State.
Following this, a Facebook user shared a video allegedly showing a confrontation between the local vigilantes and Fulani herders in Benue State, North-central Nigeria.
However, available evidence shows that the video has been online since 2022 and does not relate to Nigeria as portrayed. The video was of a clash between members of rival youth gangs in Congo.
- Viral funeral video of Buhari
On July 6, 2025, an X user (@USBiafra) posted a video claiming that former Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari had died. The footage on X showed a solemn funeral scene, with mourners gathered around a casket.
DUBAWA verified and saw that the viral video of a burial procession is from the funeral of Katsina State Governor Dikko Radda’s mother, not Buhari. While the former president’s death has now been confirmed, the funeral video used was misattributed.
- Tinubu is the third most corrupt person in the world
A viral post by an X user, Peter Obi Grassroots Mobilisation (@PO_GrassrotM), claimed that Nigerian president Bola Tinubu was ranked the third most corrupt person in the world by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).
However, DUBAWA found no evidence to back up the claim that President Tinubu is the third most corrupt person in the world based on the information on the OCCRP website and an interview with the organisation’s Africa editor.
- Boakai attacked Trump for complimenting his command of English language
A viral video on social media claims Liberia’s President Joseph Boakai attacked United States President Donald Trump for complimenting his English speaking skills. “Yesterday’s exchange with Trump shocked and angered me. I never thought I would be insulted like this on an international stage,” is heard saying in part of the video.
To verify this, we ran a reverse image search and saw that the video is an AI manipulation of a 2017 interview Boakai granted to VOA in Washington. A manual inspection of the viral video revealed unnatural movements, including his blinking and poor lip-syncing with the audio, indicating that the video had been manipulated.
- Boakai said China has conducted comprehensive survey of Liberia’s mineral resources
On his return to Liberia on July 11, 2025, after participating in the US-Africa summit, Liberia’s president, Joseph Boakai, spoke to journalists at the airport about Liberia’s mineral resources.
In an interview, the President denied saying that the Chinese Government had conducted a comprehensive survey of Liberia’s mineral resources.
To verify this claim, we conducted several searches online to collect President Boakai’s recent comments about China’s mineral resource survey for Liberia. We gathered that in his State of the Nation address, he mentioned that the Chinese government had conducted one of the most comprehensive studies on Liberia’s mineral resources in decades.
- Brain Jotter’s house raided by EFCC
An X user (@Damiedamie35) shared a 43-second footage claiming that the house of Nigerian skit maker Chukwuebuka Emmanuel, popularly known as Brain Jotter, had been raided by EFCC operatives.
Upon a thorough investigation of the widely circulated claim, DUBAWA found no credible evidence to support the claim. A comprehensive review of reputable news outlets, official government statements, and online information sources revealed no reports or verifiable data confirming such an arrest.
