IN SHORT: According to several posts on Facebook, the former governor of Nigeria’s Edo state said president Bola Tinubu’s “reckless policies” were responsible for the country’s economic crisis. But there is no evidence that Adams Oshiomhole ever made such a statement.
“Tinubu reckless policies responsible for current hardship- Sen. Adam Oshiomhole,” reads the caption of a video posted on Facebook.
Bola Tinubu was sworn in as president of Nigeria in May 2023.
Adams Oshiomhole was the governor of Nigeria’s Edo state from 2008 to 2016. He was also president of the Nigeria Labour Congress, one of the country’s largest trade unions.
In the video, Oshiomhole can be heard saying: “Liberal economic policies have failed Nigeria … If it is not good for Nigeria, we won’t do it … And the only thing we have to sell is crude. And that crude is not determined competitively. It is determined by some forces in the west. Whether the president of the US is sick or whether the published data shows the economy is slowing down or whether China is growing or slowing down and all of that.”
Nigeria is facing its worst economic crisis in decades, with citizens blaming the Tinubu administration for high inflation. When Tinubu took office, he announced the removal of the fuel subsidy, resulting in increased fuel and food prices.
From 1 to 10 August 2024, Nigerians took to the streets to protest against economic hardship. The demonstrations were tagged #EndBadGovernance and #EndBadGovernanceProtests on social media.
Similar posts can be found here and here. (Note: See more instances listed at the end of this report.)
But did Oshiomhole make such a statement about Tinubu’s policies? We checked.
No proof he made the statement
Oshiomhole is a member of Nigeria's ruling party – the All Progressives Congress – and such a blunt attack on Tinubu, who is also a member of the party, is significant and would have made headlines. But we found no media reports about it.
Instead, Nigeria's Vanguard newspaper reported that Oshiomhole blamed the “reckless policies” of former president Muhammadu Buhari for the current crisis. Buhari was the country’s president from 2015 to 2023.
A Google reverse image search of keyframes from the video shows that it was taken from a public lecture by Oshiomhole. The original video was posted on YouTube on 7 July 2024, with the headline: “Tinubu Is Behaving Like He Doesn’t Want 2ND Term - Oshiomhole Speaks On Nigeria’s Worsening Economy.”
But nowhere in the original 35-minute video does Oshiomhole say that Tinubu's “reckless policies” are to blame for the suffering of Nigerians.
The video circulating on social media is a small part of Oshiomhole’s speech and its caption is misleading.
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