President Muhammadu Buhari

Claim: A viral message making the rounds on WhatsApp and referenced to Nuhu Ribadu, Former boss of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) claims that President Muhammadu Buhari instigated banditry in Nigeria to oust  former President Goodluck Jonathan.

The viral WhatsApp message is misleading. There is no confirmed source to the story and the spokesperson to Ribadu has debunked the message, tagging it as ‘fake news’. 

Full Text 

Before the 2015 general elections, insecurity was a major problem in the Nigerian society. While most of the attacks experienced were referenced to Boko Haram, banditry was not much of a topical issue then. However, fast forward to 2018, till now, Banditry has become a prominent issue in the centre of Nigeria’s security issue. 

Since its emergence, security analysts have been trying to understand its nature, sponsorship and patterns of attacks. It is in the light of this reality, that a  viral WhatsApp message claims that Muhammadu Buhari, the current Nigerian president instigated banditry to oust Goodluck Jonathan, who was then president of the country until his defeat by the latter in the 2015 general elections.

The acclaimed message is referenced to Nuhu Ribadu, the former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and has  already been shared several times on WhatsApp, and on and recently even published in a feature magazine; rendering an unverified account of the origin of banditry in the country. 

The viral message also alleged that Buhari sought the services of mercenaries, who were recruited from neighbouring countries, to claim power for the Fulani group in case he loses the 2015 presidential election. To give credibility to the narrative, the message was attributed to the former EFCC boss, Nuhu Ribadu as the author.

The same viral message as featured in Savanna Express Magazine with picture of Nuhu Ribadu

Nuhu Ribadu, is a former Nigerian Police Officer and Politician. He was the Chairman of the Petroleum Revenue Task force and eventually the founding chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Nigerian government anti corruption body. EFFC, from 2003–2007.

Verification

Dubawa analysed the message and found out that it was highly disjointed with a lot of spelling errors. Typical errors that should not have been prevalent with such important acclaimed messages, and also questionable in the essay of Nuhu Ribadu,  who authored a book. 

The reporter further reached out to the Publisher of the feature magazine, SAVANNA EXPRESS, where the article was published in Vol  9, No 98 ISSN 98760 -5432, Page 39 – 40 on  23rd June 2021 with the caption: ‘Nuhu Ribadu: BOMBSHELL ON BANDITRY’.

In his response, as regards the source to the story, Mr Michael Eluwa, the publisher of the Savanna Magazine, who did not deny publishing the article,  admitted that he was practicing “guerilla Journalism” to fight the government as such he won’t disclose the source of the information.

In a bid to uncover the actual genealogy of the story, Dubawa also reached out to Nuhu Ribadu’s former aide and journalist, AbdulAziz AbdulAziz, who said that the message has been on since June  2019 and a rebuttal regarding the acclaimed message has been sent out by Nuhu Ribadu, using his social media handles.

AbdulAziz, added that the former EFCC Chairman has even  “called on security agencies to investigate the origin of the message and prosecute those behind it, but was surprised the message was still trending on social media.”

AbdulAziz beckoned to the public to disregard the message, which he described as “clear insanity and a cheap blackmail.”

Further scrutiny by Dubawa showed that there was no such report in any credible media organisations. Even so, Dubawa found out that the message wrongly captured Nuhu Ribadu who was Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) in 2014 not the Deputy Superintendent (DSP) of Police as posed by the message.  

Conclusion

This message allegedly written by Nuhu Ribadu titled “Bandits were created by Muhammadu Buhari to oust Jonathan” is misleading.

The fact check was produced per Dubawa 2021 Kwame Karikari fellowship partnership with National Orientation Agency (NOA) to facilitate the ethos of truth in journalism and enhance media literacy in the country.

Claim: A Facebook post, quoting a warning by President Muhammadu Buhari to all local government chairmen in Nigeria, where the President was reported to have threatened that any chairman who hands over his LG funds to his state governor will be questioned has gone viral.

There is no official confirmation or publication to substantiate the claim by Mr Joe Igbokwe.

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On Tuesday, 22 of June 2021, a post was made on Facebook by Mr Joe Igbokwe, a member of the All Progressives Congress and Special Adviser, Office of Drainage Services to the Lagos State Governor, where the President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari purportedly threatened local government chairmen in the country with EFCC and Kirikiri prison if they handed their local government funds to their governors.

The post which has gone viral and shared multiple times both on Facebook and WhatsApp reads:

President Buhari Warns Local Government Council Chairmen:

“You people are just wasting your time, We have sent money directly to Local Government Account this week. And if you like, withdraw the money from that account and hand over to your Governor, you will give account of it properly at EFCC or Kirikiri Maximum Prison.” ~ President Buhari.

As of Tuesday, 22 June 2021, when the post was sighted by our researcher, it had garnered 1,300 likes, 17 comments and 932 shares on Facebook alone. It had been shared many times on WhatsApp, and had even attracted commendation from many groups on WhatsApp.

Verification

Media aide to the President, Femi Adesina, was sent a message (SMS), but he did not respond. However, a check on all platforms where the presidency announces it’s activities returned no press release or related comments. Of all the press releases from the presidency posted on his Facebook page, none of them reflected the claim.

Additionally, a check on the activities on the Facebook page of Mr Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, did not return any post pointing to any such event or statement credited to the President.

Although in recent times, President Muhammadu Buhari has been making moves and statements that seem to reflect this idea. He repeatedly lamented that his administration’s anti-corruption fight had been slowed down because of the comatose nature of local governments. He even hinted at his desire to have independent, financially autonomous local government administration in Nigeria, stating that this would pave the way for restructuring, which many Nigerians appear to be clamouring for.

In 2019, the President made moves to grant local governments (and the judiciary at the states) financial autonomy. But he got around this with the signing of Executive Order 10 of 2020. Upon signing the EO 10, President Buhari was quoted to have said:

“Based on the power vested in me under Section 5 of the 1999 Constitution (as Amended), I, today, signed into law Executive Order No. 10 of 2020 for the implementation of Financial Autonomy of State Legislature and State Judiciary. This administration will continue to do everything to strengthen the principles and practice of democracy and democratic governance in Nigeria.”

Also, early in 2021, the president ordered the dissolution of Local Government caretaker committees nationwide because they were not legally recognised, and in breach of the provisions of Section 7(1) of the 1999 constitution (as amended). The President had reportedly directed the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, to request state governors operating caretaker committees at local government level to immediately disband such committees and restore democratically elected representatives.

Consulting Joe Igbokwe

Joe Igbokwe, the author, was reached for comments. When asked to substantiate the post, and confirm the place and time of the statement he credited to the President, he asked this writer by asking whether it was the first time he was hearing such a statement. He could neither substantiate the claim nor give any official link to validate the claim. 

His reply: ‘Is it fake news? Is this the first time you are hearing it? Is this the first time you are hearing it? Is it that you don’t know that the money, the government now send (sic) money to the local government directly?’

Conclusion

There is no official confirmation or publication to substantiate the claim by Mr Joe Igbokwe.

The researcher produced this fact-check per Splash FM 105.5, Ibadan, with the Dubawa 2021 Fellowship partnership, to facilitate the ethos of truth in journalism and enhance media literacy in the country.

Irked by the wanton destruction, killing and attacks on security operatives in the southeast and south-south regions of the country, the president, a former military Head of State and self-styled democrat had threatened to treat some aggressive secessionists “in the language they understand.”

Buhari’s statement came amid mounting security threats across the country climaxed by the abduction of some students in both government colleges and university in Niger, Kaduna and Zamfara by bandits.

Controversial as it was widely understood, the statement was trailed by a whirlpool of reactions, with a number of social media users on Twitter calling on Jack Dorsey, the CEO and founder of the platform to give the “Buhari a Donald Trump treatment.” 

Trump, a former US president, was suspended by Twitter after his tweet led to the attack on the Capitol amid grand delusions to overturn the victory of his predecessor Joe Biden in the November 3, 2020 election.

NBC sanction

In a subsequent move, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) ordered all the broadcast media in the country to suspend the use of Twitter “with immediate effect.”

This was contained in a statement issued by its former director general, Armstrong Idachaba, on Monday, July 7.

Garba Shehu, a presidential aide, in a statement said “the removal of President Buhari’s tweet was disappointing.” He also claimed Twitter was not banned but temporarily suspended, citing that it is a place where “misinformation” trends, among other reasons.

However, in a fierce defiance, Nigerians have continued to be using Twitter albeit with Virtual Private Network (VPN), a connection that extends a private network across a public network and enables users to send and receive data across shared or public networks.

Enters Koo app

One of the reasons Twitter was banned — or “temporarily suspended” was because as the Minister of Communication and Culture, Lai Mohammed said, it was “capable of undermining the corporate existence of Nigeria.”

In a bid to cut down the intimidating influence of Twitter, Koo, an Indian micro-blogging app, was endorsed by the Nigerian presidency, with President Buhari leading the cart of his followers to the app.

Koo app itself is a product of revolt. It is borne out of Indian government’s desire to sumerge Twitter in the populous country after the platform was suspended in what appears to be a long deadlock emerging from clash of interest.

The Nigerian government’s endorsement of Koo, without any iota of doubt, represents a significant push in the app’s journey to position itself as a genuine challenger to Twitter in the country.

This is because hundreds of Nigerians, mostly Buhari’s supporters, have joined the Koo app in solidarity with the presidency’s position on the Twitter ban.

On the other side of the trenches, social media influencers whose work were affected by the ban have refused to join the platform, describing it as an attempt to gag “free speech” and strengthen the government’s vocal desire to bring social media under control.

 Koo a blessing in disguise? 

Although Koo may find it difficult to outmuscle Twitter on the Nigerian internet space, its presence has provided the country’s social media users with a viable alternative of communication and expression of free speech.

Twitter, over the time, has been the biggest platform that provides a voice for Nigerians who often checkmate the excess of the government.

With over 40 million active users, the platform not only provides jobs for Nigerians as social media managers and influencers, but also generates revenue into the purse of the government.

According to netblocks, a data-driven web application that allows people to rapidly evaluate the economic cost of Internet outages, Nigeria has been losing money daily over Twitter ban.

Between June 5 and 25 the government suspended Twitter operations, the country, according to netblock, has lost over $150m (approximately N54 billion). 

Economically, this means if Nigeria can have a concentrated number of active social media users on Koo, more revenue will be generated into the country’s purse..

Of the technological benefits, Twitter ban and the presence of Koo has revitalised Nigeria’s possibility of developing and exploring home-grown social media platforms that are basically Nigerian and capable of challenging the monopoly and hegemony of US-owned social media tech giants.

In India, Koo came in as a tool of revolt. It was initially fashioned in a user-friendly mode with an  interactive interface to “deal with Twitter excess.” Now, it is a strong competitor, technically performing the same role. By the time the Indian government removes the ban on Twitter, its influence may have whittled down.

India is the second most populous country in the world after China; Nigeria is the most populous in Africa. So there is a striking similarity between the two nations in terms of numerical strength. If Nigeria can use the avenue of the Twitter ban to create a home-grown alternative, it is going to be a step in the right direction for the country in terms of technological advancement.

The researcher produced this fact-check per the Dubawa 2021 Kwame KariKari Fellowship partnership with Legit.ng to facilitate the ethos of “truth” in journalism and enhance media literacy in the country.

On June 12, 2021, Nigeria celebrated its democracy day amid protests across states demanding better governance. The president addressed Nigerians in a 23-minute video.

Several claims emanating from the president’s speech have been called into question by Nigerians. In the light of this, we took a look at some of them.

Claim one: 10.5 million people have been lifted out of poverty in the last two years.

“In the last two years, we lifted 10.5 million people out of poverty – farmers, small-scale traders, artisans, market women and the like.”

Excerpt of Buhari’s comment on poverty.

Looking at the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) 2019 poverty data (from September 2018 to October 2019) released in 2020, Dubawa observeed that  40.1 per cent of the total population were classified as poor meaning on average, 4 out of 10 individuals in Nigeria have real per capita expenditures below 137,430 Naira per year. This translates to over 82.9 million poor Nigerians. NBS however noted this data excludes Borno State

Although data could not be found for 2017/2018 to compare the difference (the last NBS data before 2018/2019 was 2009/2010) the increasing number of poor persons in the country between 2018 and 2019 contradicts the president claim, making it false.

Claim two: GDP growth was recorded in the second quarter of 2020 and the first quarter of 2021.

“Though marginal we have recorded GDP growth over two quarters; Q2 2020 and Q1 2021. This is evidence of successful execution of the ESP by the Federal Government.”

Excerpt of the president’s comment on GDP.

A look at the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data for Gross Domestic Product (GDP) 2020 and 2021, Dubawa noted that the second and third quarter of 2020 experienced a negative downturn of -6.10% and – 3.62 respectively while the first and fourth quarter experienced positive growth in 2020 with 1.87% and 0.11% respectively.

For the first quarter of 2021, GDP growth was positive at 0.51%.

A look at these quarterly reports shows the president’s claim is not completely true. While it is false there was growth in the second quarter of 2020, it is true the first quarter of 2021 grew by 0.51%.

Claim three: Nigeria has a National Social Register of poor and vulnerable households 

“We now have a National Social register of poor and vulnerable households, identified across 708 local government areas, 8,723 wards and 86,610 communities in the 36 States and the FCT”

Excerpt of Buhari’s comment on the social register.

Dubawa found that this claim is true although the data available does not give details of local governments and communities, there currently exists a National Social register on the National Social Safety-Net Coordinating Office’s (NASSCO) site.

NASSCO was established in 2016 by the Government of Nigeria in partnership with the World Bank to lay a strong foundation of rigorous and reliable evidence of poor and vulnerable households in Nigeria, by building a National Social Register (NSR), as well as coordinate, refine and integrate the social safety-net programs into social protection systems while ensuring policy coherence.

The National Social Register of Poor and Vulnerable Households (PVHHs) found is distributed by states, households and individuals as of April 27, 2020. This register is a repository of information about potential beneficiaries for multiple social assistance programs.

According to NASSCO, this register was built using four targeting approaches. These approaches are; Geographic, Community Ranking, Community Based Targeting (CBT), and Proxy Mean Testing (PMT).

Conclusion

The above claims by the president are a combination of true False and misleading. While some claims turned out to be true, others mixed up data and some were completely false.

Claim: A news headline outlines that “JUST IN: Buhari Shot Dead By Gunmen In Edo” 

The headline is misleading. The Buhari in question was not the president but a driver with Hart land Construction Company. 

Full Text

Headlines are crucial in telling a news story. Misleading headlines and sometimes half-truth carved captions have misinformed and even misdirect people’s sense of reality. 

Even notably, a recent headline reads, “JUST IN: Buhari shot dead by gunmen in Edo”. It was first shared on PM NEWS and reappeared on ther platforms carrying the same headline. 

As expected, the headline drew serious attention from the public who thought the story was referenced to the President, Muhammadu Buhari. 

On Facebook, the post attracted multiple comments. A user, Nasiru Mohammed, wrote, “God forbid, death at your door but not our president”. Several other users questioned, “which of the ‘Buhari?” 

Another user, James Kamar remarked that “Oh my God, this is a bad way for the president to die. May his soul rest in peace.”

The actual Narrative, not the headline

While the headline did amass traction, the narrative was nothing more than a usual news story. 

The Buhari in question was a driver with Hartland Construction Company. Simply identified as ‘Buhari’, he was reported to have  been shot dead in Benin, the Edo state capital, by Unknown gunmen believed to be kidnappers.

According to PMNews, two police operatives on guard duty were also shot at by the gunmen, before kidnapping an expatriate worker. 

Although the event took place, the president’s name in the headline gave the story rather unusual attention. While some users took time to read the actual narrative others took it as it was; the president is dead!!!

Conclusion

Headlines tell what a story is about. Nonetheless, in this case, the headline is rather misleading as the Buhari in question is not the President but a driver. 

Ganiyat Tijani-Adenle

Claim: A viral WhatsApp message titled ‘FESTUS KEYAMO DROPS THE MOTHER OF ALL BOMBS – Who are you calling dictator?’ names Nigeria’s Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, the author of a critical message seeking to launder the image of the country’s president.

This message is misleading. Nigeria’s Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Mr. Festus Keyamo is not the author of the message.

Full Text

The battle of wits between the supporters of incumbent Nigerian president, Muhammadu Buhari, and his antagonists is one that goes on daily on social media. Nigerian citizens in the country as well as those in diaspora spare no efforts in proving their cases for or against the President. In this particular instance, pro-Buhari author(s) sought to give their claims credibility and thus labelled it as crucial information by the country’s Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Mr. Festus Keyamo. The message has been shared several times on WhatsApp.

Mr. Festus Keyamo, a lawyer, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, social commentator, critic, human rights activist and columnist is a supporter of President Muhammadu Buhari and a member of his cabinet. He was also the Head of Communications for his presidential campaign team. 

The Minister of State for Labour and Employment’s name was also signed at the end of the message.

Verification

Dubawa read the 30 paragraph-long message which sought to highlight alleged deficiencies of immediate past presidents Goodluck Jonathan and Olusegun Obasanjo, who are both members of the opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). 

Ex-President Goodluck Jonathan was in power for five years (2010 to 2015) while former President Olusegun Obasanjo ruled as a civilian president for two terms (May 29, 1999 to May 29, 2007). That is apart from his time as a military ruler from 1976 to 1979. The viral message however only cited alleged abuses of power during Ex-President Obasanjo’s civilian administration.

The message also cites many supposed virtues of President Muhammadu Buhari (and his administration) as well as extolled the competence of his appointed officers.

Dubawa sent a text message to Mr. Festus Keyamo on June 16, 2021 to confirm if he was the author of the message and the Minister replied that while he shared some of the views in the message, he did not author it.

Mr. keyamo said the message “had been circulating since 2018 during the campaigns” of the election that won President Muhammadu Buhari his second term in office, and that the contents of the WhatsApp message are “a sprinkling of a lot of things” he said as the “Director of Communications during the campaigns”.

Mr. Keyamo also noted that the author(s) of the message actually “pieced them together and added a bit of some other things” which he had not said. He therefore confirmed that the viral message in its current form is not from him.

Conclusion

Nigeria’s Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Mr. Festus Keyamo is not the author of the viral WhatsApp message titled ‘FESTUS KEYAMO DROPS THE MOTHER OF ALL BOMBS – Who are you calling dictator?’

Individuals who wish to share ideas and have them resonate with people have been known to write the names of celebrities, specialists, authority figures and prominent institutions as the sources (of such messages) in order to gain credibility and achieve their communication goals.

Barely a week after Nigeria’s Government placed an indefinite suspension on the operation of microblogging site, Twitter, the federal government made its debut on an Indian-based social media platform, Koo, which was barely known to many in Nigeria. 

With the announcement of the government’s arrival on the made-in-Indian app by its co-founder and CEO Aprameya Radhakrishna, the yellow bird app is gaining traction among some Nigerians as they seek another source of keeping abreast with information hitherto filled by Twitter. 

Announcing the Nigerian government’s arrival, Radhakrishna with the Koo handle (@aprameya) posted an official handle of the Nigerian government with a smiling emoji sign. “The official handle of the government of Nigeria is now on Koo,” he posted.

What is Koo App? 

Koo is a micro-blogging platform which was developed by Aprameya Radhakrishna and Mayank Bidawatka in March 2020 but was floated in May of the same year. The app won the Aatmanirbhar App Challenge organized by the Indian government in August 2020. It has a similar interface with Twitter and its rise is hinged on the stormy path Twitter took with government authorities in India and most recently in Nigeria.

Like Twitter, Koo can be used to profess views and opinions on various topics as well as allow users to follow other users, conduct polls, share photos, audio and video with a Direct Message (DM) to facilitate chat with each other. It also allows users to place their posts with hashtags and the @ sign also comes before a username, to mention or reply to other users. Koo uses a yellow and white interface and like the blue-bird app, a verified account is given a yellow tick to indicate its authenticity.

A check on Google Play Store shows it has been downloaded over 5 million times. Apart from English, the application features some local languages spoken in India such as, Bengali, Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu. However, the co-founder and CEO, Aprameya wrote on the microblogging app that: “Koo is available in Nieria. We’re thinking of enabling the local languages there too. What say?”

How it rose to prominence

In an interview with Financial Express online, the co-founders of the microblogging app said they initiated the app to give a voice to everybody in India and chose the yellow bird to symbolise a happy bird spreading good messages among the community in India. 

The rise of Koo is however credited to not only its winning of the Indian government’s Atma Nirbhar App Innovation Challenge but a row between Twitter and the Government of India in which a show of supremacy led to government officials dumping twitter for the new app. Since then, Koo has seen a surge in usage. Its fortunes also increased following another standoff between Twitter and the Nigeria government with the later suspending access to the microblog in the country on June 5, 2021. Koo’s similarity with Twitter has made netizens in Nigeria crave for a platform to garner information on-the-go switch alliance. “The Nigerian government’s decision to join Koo after banning Twitter reinforces its position as an alternative platform to Twitter,” says Pranav Mukul, an Indian journalist with the Indian Express. With its newfound fame, Koo announced a $30 million fundraise from marquee investors including Tiger Global at a time Indian authorities were turning the heat on Twitter. The fund-raise saw Koo’s valuation jump nearly five-fold to $100 million.

Who is on the Koo app?

Since the Nigerian government joined the app with a verified handle @nigeriagov, other Nigerians including President Muhammadu Buhari with a verified handle (@muhammadubuhari) and his Personal Assistant on Digital and New Media, Bashir Ahmad have joined. A Koo handle claiming to be that of the First Lady Aisha Buhari (@A_Buhrari) has equally suffaced. Activist and former Senator representing Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani (@Sen.shehuSani) have been active on the platform as well as Kanywood celebrities such as Hadiza Gabon (@Hadiza_Aliyu) and Rahama Sadau (@Rahama).

Will the new app solve FG’s headache?

The Nigerian Government had accused Twitter for churning out fake news and hate speech on its platform with the site not taking any action. In response to the platform deleting President Muhammadu Buhari’s tweet, the Nigerian Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed had accused Twitter of double standards and allowing it to be used to undermine the country’s corporate existence. With the recent migration of the Nigerian government to Koo, it is uncertain if the government can still checkmate fake news and hate speech in the new platform. However, when asked about fake news the co-founders said: “This is one of those topics that falls in the grey area. A lot of policies are yet to be put in place as far as social media is concerned. Because unlike publishers, this is not curated content. If this was a simple question, we won’t be discussing it. We would have answers for it. The global platform would have had answers for it. We are dealing with social media, which means we are dealing with a space where people have the freedom to express themselves and there will be unscrupulous elements which will plug in some sort of fake news on a platform waiting for it to explode.”

They were optimistic that it can be tackled by service providers going to the source of the news and trying to figure out where it came from. Commenting on hate that has become the bane of the World Wide Web, they said that since the company is registered and bound by law, it will ensure a healthy conversation, and that is what the app stands for.

The researcher produced this article per the Dubawa 2021 Kwame KariKari Fellowship partnership with Daily Trust to facilitate the ethos of “truth” in journalism and enhance media literacy in the country.

Claim: A viral Twitter screenshot with the inscription of the “Twitter Public Policy” claims Twitter is apologetic for the recent action it took against President Buhari’s tweet. 

The viral screenshot of a tweet alleged to have been tweeted by ‘Twitter Public Policy’ is false. The screenshot of the tweet and others alike were created using an online tool. 

Full Text

It’s no more news that the Nigerian government has banned Twitter operations in the country. While this decision taken by the government was not least expected, the action seems to have aroused diverse debates from members of the public.

After the EndSARS protest in  the last quarter of 2020, the Nigerian government accused Twitter of arousing tension in the country–launching what appeared to be a subtle feud between Twitter and the Nigerian government. 

The climax of the situation unfolded when twitter deleted  President Buhari’s recent Tweet in what they described as a bridge to their policy. However, days after Twitter’s action on the president, the Nigerian Government banned Twitter operations in  Nigeria in what many saw as Buhari’s response to Twitter’s action. 

In response to the now popular topic in the Nigerian Public sphere, Twitter, shared on its ‘public policy’ handle its concerns over ‘open internet’ in Nigeria; apparently standing by its actions with no apologies directed to the Nigerian government.

The recent Tweet by ‘Twitter Public Policy’ 

Nonetheless, a viral screenshot of a tweet bearing the inscription of the ‘Twitter Public Policy’ handle, appeared online with a rather new narrative that seems to suggest Twitter’s desire to apologise and mend things with the Nigerian Government.  

With no date stamps, the acclaimed tweet appeared June 5th, 2021 widely shared on WhatsApp and across different social media platforms.  Some users who came across the alleged tweet, expressed disbelief and stressed that Twitter ‘will not’ share such a tweet, while others felt it was Twitter’s way of making amends with the Nigerian Government. On Nairaland, a popular interactive site in Nigeria with over 3 million active users, the alleged tweet was shared alongside the narrative “Twitter bows to Nigerian Government”.

Whatever the case may be, confirming the originality and validity of such a tweet is vital, especially at a time when most Nigerians are trying to wrap their hands around the novel action taken by the government. 

Verification 

DUBAWA first launched a timeline search on all the recent posts made by the ‘Twitter Public Policy’ handle. The alleged tweet, circulating as a screenshot, was not found anywhere on the Twitter Public Policy handle. This finding,  however, led DUBAWA to uncover an online tool that allows users to create fake screenshots while posing as anyone they deem fit. 

The Tweet Generator

‘The Tweet generator’ is a website based application that allows online users to create fake tweets. The application can be used to create a tweet template of choice, with a date of choice and all other things that a real tweet embodies. This same tool was also used to purport  a fake narrative referenced to Mark Zuckerberg, CEO Facebook.

Fake Tweet created on ‘Tweet Generator’ posing as Mark Zuckerberg

 Disclaimer: the above tweet is not real.

 It was only created  for the purpose of illustration and clarity. 

Evenmore, other red flags uncovered by DUBAWA from the acclaimed tweet shows that it is entirely fake.

The above texts show the disparity between the acclaimed tweet (2) and an original tweet (1) taken. While the original tweet has ‘@’ before policy the fake tweet missed that part entirely.  Originally generated tweets always come with the ‘@’ symbol attached to the username. 

While the original tweet has a hand-like symbol in front of the #Keepiton, this is not so with the fake one. 

Dubawa also conducted image forensics of the fake tweet in comparison to the real one taken from ‘Twitter Public Policy’ page. We conducted an error level analysis on the two images,  checking the authenticity of opacity (0.95), error scale (94), JPEG Quality (94) on the same scale. 

Image 1

Image 1: Results from forensics conducted on the original image. The outcome is a glittering ray of colors emerging from the text. 

Image 2

Image 2: forensic results from the fake tweet. Aside from the 3 glittering parts of the image, the main text is entirely black and white. 

Conclusion

The tweet under scrutiny is confirmed to be fake. It was not from Twitter nor was it ever tweeted. The manipulation of twitter screen shots is now a common phenomenon used to mislead unsuspecting members of the public. This claim is false. 

Claim: A tweet, which purportedly originated from the verified handle of Twitter, explains reasons for the deletion of President Muhammadu Buhari’s tweet.

Findings show that the picture being circulated was created using basic photo manipulation tools; it is false and had not come from @Twitter. 

Full story

On June 1, 2021, Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari, received a briefing from the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Mahmood Yakubu, at the Statehouse in Abuja.

Yakubu had come to brief the president on a series of attacks on facilities of the electoral body across the country. 

In reaction, President Buhari had said he will provide INEC with all it needs to carry out its duties and prepare ahead of the 2023 elections.

In a Twitter thread after the briefing, the President, however, warned that ‘a rude shock’ awaits unpatriotic elements promoting insurrection and burning critical assets across the country.

The president threatened to treat insurrectionists and those attacking facilities of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) like Nigerian soldiers treated the rebels during the civil war.

Buhari, a retired general, fought during the war which claimed the lives of over one million persons.

The last part of the thread attracted the outrage of many Nigerians who interpreted it to be a threat to a particular ethnic group.

The tweet reads, “Many of those misbehaving today are too young to be aware of the destruction and loss of lives that occurred during the Nigerian Civil War. Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand.”

Many Nigerians reported the Twitter account of the President seeking a ban on the account, however, Twitter deleted the controversial post by the President, rather than ban his account.

A comment by Twitter stated, “This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules”.

This action by the social media giant did not go down well with some government officials, especially the Minister of Information and Culture, who condemned Twitter’s action in a press conference.

A photo, which had now gone viral on social media especially the popular messaging app, WhatsApp, featured Twitter’s verified handle explaining the rules President Buhari had contravened which caused the deletion of the tweet.

The tweet which had purportedly come from Twitter read, “Dear @MBuhari We have no idea who you are or what country you are leading, we have come across a tweet that violates our rule number 4 of “safety and freedom” and removed it.”

Verification

Dubawa started by checking the official handle of Twitter (@Twitter) to see if it posted any tweet such as this, but found nothing of such.

From searches made, @Twitter’s last tweet was on May 28 while the circulating tweet was dated June 4, 2021.

Also, the purported tweet was posted with Twitter for Android but checks from Dubawa have revealed that @Twitter uses Sprinklr or Twitter Web App to make posts.

Also, Twitter had not independently made any comment on its verified handle regarding the deletion of the President’s tweet on its verified handle ever since the incident.

Further checks by Dubawa showed that President Muhammadu Buhari is officially recognised as Nigeria’s President as stated on his bio in the verified handle. As of Sunday, the President’s account is active with 4.1 million followers.

Dubawa further made use of Forensically, a tool for digital image forensics, which confirmed that the picture had been created by some photo manipulation tricks. 

A screenshot of the quantized image of the photo which showed that the Twitter logo had been cropped into the image.

Conclusion

Findings showed that the picture being circulated as a tweet from the verified handle of Twitter is false. The picture was manipulated.

The researcher produced this fact-check per the Dubawa 2021 Kwame KariKari Fellowship partnership with SaharaReporters to facilitate the ethos of “truth” in journalism and enhance media literacy in the country.

Claim: A video uploaded on YouTube claims that Dr. Isa Pantami, the minister of communications has been sacked by President Buhari.

The claim that Dr. Isa Pantami, the minister of communications, has been sacked by President Buhari is false. The claim is a case of misleading headline with baseless content. Currently, both the president’s and Pantami’s aides have discredited the claim as false. 

Full text

A video on YouTube shared on April 20th, 2021  claims that Dr. Isa Pantami, the minister of communication, has been sacked by President Buhari.

Dr. Pantami, who has been under fire over acclaimed extremist comments he has made in the past, has also been the subject of discussion in recent times. As some call for his resignation, others are of the contrary opinion. 

It is in line with these ongoing happenings that a video, shared by a YouTube channel (Independent TV 7) purports that the minister has been sacked by president Buhari. 

The video has attracted over 290 views within 48 hours of its appearance. This may in part be because of the dashing headline that was tagged to the video: “Breaking News!! BUHARI Order The Sack Of Isa PANTAMI And Been Kicked Out…”

Verification 

First, DUBAWA uncovered that there was no news story anywhere online, particularly from credible media outlets, that relates to Pantami’s sack, aside from the claim.

Furthermore, the narrative in the video turned out to be redundant, as nowhere was it stated in the eight-minutes video that the minister had been sacked. 

The headline was merely a hooker that was neither mentioned in the video nor  clearly expressed or specified in the video. 

When DUBAWA reached out to Ms. Uwa Suleiman, the spokesperson to the Minister of Communications, she clarified in a phone conversation that the claim is false. “This is not true, please disregard,” she said.

In the same vein, the Special Assistant to the President, Garba Shehu, also confirmed that the claim is totally untrue. 

This is not the first time DUBAWA has come across misleading headlines with unrelated content, such as in this case.

Conclusion

Though multiple controversies have been looming around the minister of communication and digital economy, Dr. Isa Ali Pantami, President Mohammed Buhari has not sacked him. Therefore, the claim, as depicted in the headline of the Youtube video is false; it is a case of misleading headline and baseless content.