The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, flagged of his presidential campaign in Sokoto, the capital city of Sokoto state, on Monday, December 3, with a pledge to involve all Nigerians in decision making.
Some pictures shared by the former vice president on his official Twitter handle shows the flag-off campaign witnessed a massive turn-out of supporters.
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However, in the early hours of Tuesday, December 4, Lauretta Onochie, an aide to President Muhammadu Buhari on social media, tweeted a picture showing that the PDP presidential candidate shared food in takeaway packages with N500 notes at the flag-off campaign.
Recall that Atiku was earlier accused of bribing delegates with money to emerge the presidential candidate of the PDP at the party’s National Convention and presidential primary held in Port Harcourt.
The picture shared by Onochie has been shared over 200 times on Twitter, bringing up again the concerns of Nigerians about the menace of voters inducement/vote-buying and the threats it poses for the forthcoming elections.
Nonetheless, as the vote-buying menace poses a great danger to the forthcoming elections, so also is fake news. Hence, the need to verify the pictures shared by the presidential aide to confirm whether or not the PDP and its presidential candidate indeed shared money and food at the rally.
Fact
Using TinEye technology to verify the authenticity of the picture, Legit.ng finds out that the picture tweeted by Onochie has been on the internet as far back as February 2017 and could not have been taken in the flag-off campaign that was held on Monday, December 2018.
Fact Check: Did PDP, Atiku really share food and money at launch of presidential campaign in Sokoto?
Conclusion
While Legit.ng cannot independently verify whether money and food were indeed shared at the rally, it is clear beyond doubt that the picture shared by Onochie in the tweet was not taken at the rally, it clearly predated the rally.
Therefore, the tweet by the presidential aide is not only misleading but a clear example of fake news.
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Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that the Nigerian opposition coalition may collapse before the 2019 general election and give way for the re-emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari, the world renowned media outfit, The Economist, predicted.
The global magazine reportedly made the prediction in its latest edition. In the latest edition, “The World in 2019”, the media outfit said there is little hope that Islamist insurgency in the northeast will end.
Appraising Nigeria, the magazine said: “The president, Muhammadu Buhari, will win re-election in February, as a new opposition coalition may collapse before the vote.
“Given the outlook for continuing political weakness, there is little prospect of progress in the fight against the Islamist insurgency in the north, nationalism in the oil-producing Delta and secessionism in the Biafra region.
“Market-based reforms will languish, holding back growth yet again.”
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Source: Legit.ng