Claim: The viral bloodied image of Labour Party House of Assembly candidate Olumide Oworu is from the attack on his campaign council.
Verdict: MISLEADING. Our findings show the bloodied image of Mr Oworu is from a movie shoot. It is not due to an attack on his campaign team.
Full Text
Less than 48 hours to the Lagos state governorship and House of Assembly election, a bloodied image of Olumide Oworu, the Labour Party’s candidate for Lagos State House of Assembly in Surulere Constituency 1, went viral.
Thugs reportedly attacked Mr Oworu and his supporters on Thursday, March 16, 2023, Channels TV reported.
The image circulating online after the alleged attack shows Mr Oworu’s face and shirt covered with blood with the claim that thugs hired by the All Progressives Congress (APC) bruised him during an ambush.
A Twitter user, @omolerinjare, tweeted the photo with an allegation that Desmond Elliot orchestrated the attack. Another Twitter user, @ayemojuba tweeted the photo with another caption, “Olumide Oworu was attacked by APC thugs.”
The virality and sensitive nature of the claim on the heel of the state election called for verification.
Verification
A check by The FactCheckHub shows that the image has been online for over five months.
Mr Oworu, a Nigerian actor featured in several Nollywood movies and who won many awards for his diverse roles, uploaded the image on his Instagram handle with a caption indicating it is from a movie production.
He shared the photo on October 3, 2022, with the caption, “Alagbado John Wick. #OntheEdge on his Instagram page.”
Similarly, the claim that APC thugs attacked him could not be independently verified as of this report’s filing.
Conclusion
Our findings reveal that the bloodied image of Mr Oworu is from a movie shoot.
This report was written by FactCheckHub and republished by DUBAWA as part of the Nigerian Fact-checkers’ Coalition initiative. See the original piece here.
