IN SHORT: Governor Monday Okpebholo's gaffe while presenting the state's 2025 budget got a lot of attention. But it's not true that he arrested the reporter covering the event for broadcasting the blunder.
A video of the governor of Nigeria's Edo state, Monday Okpebholo, struggling to articulate budget figures during his 2025 budget presentation sparked mixed reactions online.
While critics questioned his preparedness, supporters attributed the stumble to human error.
Okpebholo won the Edo governorship election in September 2024 under Nigeria's ruling All Progressives Congress party, and the 2025 budget presentation was his first since taking office.
Against this backdrop, several Facebook posts in Nigeria claimed that the governor had arrested Goodluck Enaini, a reporter with the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), for his role in broadcasting the controversial budget speech.
One Facebook post reads: “BREAKING: NTA Correspondent Arrested Over Okpebholo’s Budget Broadcast Gaffe”.
The same claim appeared on Facebook here and here. (Note See other instances of the claim at the end of this report.)
But did Okpebholo arrest the NTA reporter? We checked.
Reporter denies being arrested
In a post on his X handle, Enaini said the news of his arrest was false and should be disregarded.
“My name is Goodluck Enaini, the @NTANewsNow reporter attached to @EdoStateGovt house in Benin city. Against the news making the rounds, l would like to state that l was not arrested by any government official. I worked up to 8 pm yesterday at the @EdoStateGovt house interacting with @cpsedostate and The SA media cordially. The news is false and should be disregarded please,” he wrote.
He urged people to stop spreading false information and propaganda.
We also found no statement from the Edo state government or NTA on the journalist's arrest, which would have been the case if it had been true.
The false claim also appeared here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
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