Over the years, the spread of disinformation has surged with technological evolution. False news is widely shared on social media platforms and unsuspecting internet users frequently fall victim to these carefully crafted falsehoods.
Here are some of the most viral false claims of 2024 that CableCheck successfully debunked.
PETROL IS 40% CHEAPER IN NIGERIA THAN SAUDI ARABIA
President Bola Tinubu’s announcement of the removal of the fuel subsidy had a domino effect on the economy. Petrol prices skyrocketed alongside everything that needed the fuel to effectively function. To “stabilise” the market and lessen scarcity, Aliko Dangote established the Dangote Petroleum Refinery.
In an interview, Dangote commended the subsidy removal and said it was the right time to stop the payments. To buttress his point, Dangote said petrol is about 40 percent cheaper in Nigeria than in Saudi Arabia.
However, data from Saudi Aramco, the Saudi Arabian oil group, showed that for September, the price of octane 95 petrol is 2.33 riyals per litre while octane 91 petrol is 2.18 riyals in the country. As of September 25, two days after Dangote made the claim, the Central Bank of Saudi Arabia said the exchange rate for N1 is 0.002280 riyal, which means 1 riyal exchanged for N438.5.
Consequently, the price of octane 95 petrol in naira is N1,021.92 per litre while that of octane 91 petrol is N956.14 riyals. At the time, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited increased the petrol price across its retail outlets to N855 per litre.
Verdict: Partly false.While Saudi Arabia’s fuel prices are indeed higher, the actual difference is not 40 percent as claimed. Data reveals a significantly smaller price gap between the two countries. Read the fact check here.
THE SAMOA AGREEMENT SAGA
One of the biggest disinformation in 2024 was how fake news purveyors mispresented the details of the Samoa Agreement on social media.
When Abubakar Bagudu, minister of budget and economic planning, announced that the country had signed the Samoa Agreement, a legal framework overseeing cooperations between EU member states and African, Pacific, and Caribbean countries, on July 1, his statement set off a string of chain reactions that fanned embers of deep-seated anger among citizens, and questioned the public’s trust in the government.
Multiple reports claimed that the pact ushered in LGBTQ rights in Nigeria – a country where same-sex relationships are prohibited.
Mohammed Idris, minister of information, debunked the reports and said the Samoa agreement was signed in the interest of the country without contravening any of the existing laws.
Verdict: False. Bagudu said nowhere in the document mentioned same-sex marriage, and that it would not usher in LGBTQ rights. The minister clarified that what was signed hinged on a $150 billion trade component. Read the fact check here.
TINUBU REMOVED AS ECOWAS CHAIRMAN FOR SIGNING SAMOA AGREEMENT
The Samoa Agreement disinformation did not end with the details. Several reports on social media said Tinubu was removed due to the signing of the controversial agreement.
Arewa Twitter, a prominent handle on X, claimed that Tinubu was asked to step down as ECOWAS chairman for signing the agreement.
Contrary to the claims, the Nigerian president was re-elected for another one-year term as the chairman during the 65th ordinary session of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government held in July at the presidential villa in Abuja.
Verdict: False. Tinubu was not removed as the ECOWAS chairman. Read the fact check here.
TINUBU SNUBBED SIGNING OF 2023 PEACE ACCORD
Matthew Kukah, Catholic Bishop of Sokoto diocese, claimed that Tinubu did not sign the peace accord during the 2023 presidential election.
The Catholic Bishop who spoke during the Edo election security town hall meeting in September gathered a wide range of attention with his claim.
CableCheck reviewed the 2023 peace pact report by NPC and observed that two peace accords were signed at the national level, following the violent outcome of previous elections in the country.
The first pact aimed at encouraging political parties and their candidates to streamline their goals with election campaign strategies as opposed to misinformation and hate speech. The candidates signed the pact on September 29, 2022. Peter Obi, candidate of the Labour Party (LP); Atiku Abubakar, PDP candidate; Rabiu Kwankwaso, flagbearer of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP); and Omoyele Sowore, standard bearer of the African Action Congress (AAC) were all present at the event, except Tinubu, who was said to be away in the United Kingdom.
He was, however, represented by Kashim Shettima, his running mate.
The second pact, signed on February 23, 2023, was for the candidates to accept the outcome of the election. Tinubu was present at the signing of the second pact.
Verdict: False. Tinubu was represented at the signing of the first pact and attended the second signing in person. Read the fact check here.
VIDEO OF BODIES IN MASS GRAVES FROM NIGERIA
On August 30, an X account @emmasocket posted a video showing men dressed in camouflage shooting at fleeing people. The account claimed that the pile of bodies was from a “secret war going on in the land of Biafra”.
Using a Google reverse image search, CableCheck found that days before the claim was made, the video surfaced online with an accompanying post alleging that the killings were caused by the Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM), Al Qaeda-linked militant group, in Burkina Faso.
The post said JNIM killed over 200 and injured 140 while villagers were assisting security forces in digging trenches to build defend outposts.
Media reports confirmed the attack with the United Nations (UN) describing the incident as horrific and urging Burkina Faso’s transition authorities to ensure that those responsible are held to account.
In addition, Edward Buba, director, of defence media operations, issued a statement distancing the event from Nigeria.
Verdict: False. The attack happened in Burkina Faso, not Nigeria. Read the fact check here.
UN ‘TAKING POWER’ FROM TINUBU
A social media post claimed that the United Nations (UN) would take away power from Tinubu if the August #EndBadGovernace protest was sustained for at least 15 days.
Though the post appeared to be sarcastic, it was shared across different social media platforms including Facebook.
Article 11 of the UN charter gives the assembly the power to call the attention of its security council to issues that could “endanger internal peace”, but does not permit the body legal jurisdiction to interfere in matters of local prominence.
Article 2, subsection 7 of the UN charter gives credence to that.
Verdict: False. The UN does not have the power to interfere in local matters. Read the fact check here.
SURROGACY ILLEGAL IN NIGERIA
Another claim that stirred conversations on the internet was on the subject of surrogacy in Nigeria. Sonnie Ekwowusi, a human rights lawyer, said surrogacy is a criminal offence punishable by the law.
Ekwowusi made the claim on April 22 while speaking on the Morning Show, a programme on Arise TV.
The human rights lawyer said surrogacy is outlawed in Nigeria given that the surrogate is “womb renting” and giving out her child.
Olu Daramola, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), told TheCable that surrogacy is not illegal given that there is no legal framework for it. Awa Kalu, another senior advocate of Nigerian (SAN), also affirmed that there is a legal vacuum regarding the rights and responsibilities of the parties involved in surrogacy arrangements.
He said both the Child Rights Act and the National Health Act — as quoted by Ekwowusi — did not prohibit surrogacy.
Verdict: False. There is no legal framework for surrogacy in Nigeria. The National Health Act and the Child Health Act do not prohibit surrogacy in Nigeria. Read the fact check here.
SENEGALESE PRESIDENT CRITICISING FRANCE
Some false information outside the country’s shores also swam into the wave of reports that flooded the internet locally. After Bassirou Diomaye Faye was elected as Senegal’s president in March, a video purportedly showing Faye berating France went viral on social media in Nigeria and some other African countries.
Many who shared the video expressed excitement that Faye, the youngest elected African president, is taking a tough stance against France.
CableCheck subjected keyframes in the viral video to reverse image search and observed that the clip was extracted from the speech delivered by Ousmane Sonko, Senegal’s top opposition leader, at a press conference in July 2021, in Dakar, Senegal.
Sonko addressed his audience in French and not in English, as seen in the viral video.
CableCheck also found that deepfake technology was used to alter Sonko’s voice in the clip to give the impression that he spoke in English.
Furthermore, it was discovered that the viral part of the speech attributed to the Senegalese president-elect has been on YouTube since 2023.
Verdict: False. The speaker in the viral video criticising France is not Faye but Sonko, the leader of PASTEF. The viral video is a manipulated version of a press conference held by Sonko in 2021. Read the fact check here.
WHO LOCKDOWN OVER MPOX
After a new strain of monkeypox called Clade Ib was detected among sex workers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), recurring posts on social media claimed that the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared a lockdown over the mpox outbreak.
The claims came amid a surge of cases found in countries across the continent, including Nigeria. The critical situation led the Africa Centre for Disease Control (CDC) to declare a “public health emergency of continental security”.
The WHO also debunked claims alleging that the mpox is the new COVID.
Verdict: False. The WHO did not declare a lockdown over the mpox outbreak. Read the fact check here.
FBI ARRESTS 80 SCAMMERS FROM ONE ETHNIC GROUP
Religious wars and tribal tensions have become recurring subjects of concern in Nigeria. In September, some social media users stirred the hornet’s nest by claiming that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), an American security agency, arrested 80 Nigerians who are from the Igbo tribe for criminal activities.
The claims contained an excerpt from a CBS report in which Nick Hanna, a US lawyer, was seen speaking on the activities of the criminal gang, and screenshots of the indictment sheet.
CableCheck subjected multiple keyframes of the video to a reverse image search and found a 20-minute news report on the arrest. The video was a 2019 report from CBS News.
A statement published by California’s attorney’s office said not all the arrested suspects were Nigerian nationals. CableCheck also observed that not all the arrested Nigerian nationals bore Igbo names.
For instance, one of the suspects was named Joshua Aniefiok Awak while another was Jeremiah Utieyin Eki.
Verdict: Misleading. The FBI arrest happened in 2019 and was not as recent as the tweets suggested. Also, not all 80 suspects were Nigerian nationals. Read the fact check here.
