IN SHORT: Nigeria’s elections are just hours away, and false claims that public figures have endorsed certain presidential candidates just keep coming. This time, it’s not true that Seun Okinabaloye has endorsed Bola Tinubu of the APC.
Has Seun Okinabaloye endorsed Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of Nigeria’s governing All Progressives Congress?
Okinbaloye is a broadcast journalist and anchor of Politics Today on Channels TV. He has interviewed several politicians on the programme.
Nigerians go to the polls tomorrow, on 25 February.
A graphic circulating on Facebook shows a photo of Okinbaloye and quotes him as saying Tinubu is the wise choice.
It reads:
Vote wisely… It is going to be a colossal loss to Nigerian youths to miss the opportunity of voting for Asiwaju Bola Tinubu! Despite the lies against him. I have studied the four major contestants in this election despite not having the opportunity to interview Tinubu; to me, he has the most sincere will to bring many Nigerians out of abject poverty…Seun of Channels TV.
The graphic can also be seen here, here and here.
Tinubu has been vocal about his refusal to attend town hall meetings, debates and interviews.
But has Okinabaloye endorsed Tinubu? We checked.
‘No endorsement from me!!!’
On 20 February, Okinabaloye took to Instagram to dismiss the graphic and the quote as false.
He said: “Please disregard the fake News. No endorsement from me!!!”
Africa Check has checked several false nonexistent endorsements before – here, here, here, here and here.
These kinds of claims are often used in disinformation, where people are tricked into voting for a particular candidate because of the supposed endorsements they received.
Read our analysis on disinformation trends in Nigeria’s election season.
Republish our content for free
For publishers: what to do if your post is rated false
A fact-checker has rated your Facebook or Instagram post as “false”, “altered”, “partly false” or “missing context”. This could have serious consequences. What do you do?
Click on our guide for the steps you should follow.
Publishers guideAfrica Check teams up with Facebook
Africa Check is a partner in Meta's third-party fact-checking programme to help stop the spread of false information on social media.
The content we rate as “false” will be downgraded on Facebook and Instagram. This means fewer people will see it.
You can also help identify false information on Facebook. This guide explains how.
Add new comment