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Claim: President Tinubu has made a national address announcing significant measures to reduce government expenditure, including the return of fuel and electricity subsidies.
Verdict: A check by DUBAWA revealed that the viral claim is fabricated.
Full Text
A broadcast message on WhatsApp claims that President Tinubu has given a national address on reducing government expenditures.
The post further claimed that the president has decided to take a 50% cut from his salary and called on the vice president and other top government officials to follow suit.
More claims include scrapping the Office of the First Lady, selling some presidential aircraft, restoring subsidies on petrol and electricity, and prohibiting foreign medical treatments for government officials.
The virality and potential impact of the claim prompted DUBAWA to fact-check it.
Verification
DUBAWA conducted keyword searches and investigated national news outlets; however, we found no report about President Bola Tinubu addressing the nation recently.
A look at the Facebook handle of the Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation revealed no record of the supposed national address.
We also looked at Mr Tinubu’s official Facebook page but couldn’t find such an address.
Further, DUBAWA checked the social media handles of the presidential aides, including Ajuri Ngalale’s X handle, the presidential spokesperson’s X handle, Bayo Onanuga’s X handle, and the handle of the special adviser on information and strategy.
While we found no record of the said national address on Ajuri’s page, Onanuga recently debunked it, describing it as ‘false.’
Conclusion
DUBAWA’s investigation reveals that the claim is false. It is fabricated to mislead readers.
The researcher produced this fact-check per the DUBAWA 2024 Kwame KariKari Fellowship, in partnership with Nigeria Police Radio 99.1 Fm Abuja, to facilitate the ethos of “ truth” in journalism and enhance media literacy in the country.
