Governor Aiyedatiwa. Source: Official Facebook account
Claim: Sahara Reporters, an online news channel, claimed that Governor Aiyedatiwa was throwing bundles of money in Akure to entice voters ahead of the November 16 governorship election in Ondo State.
Full Text
According to the timetable of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, campaign for the November 16 governorship election in Ondo State, Nigeria started on June 19 and will end November 14.
The incumbent governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, is the flag bearer for the All Progressives Congress, APC, while his closest rival, Agboola Ajayi bears the flag for the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Recently, a video of Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa has been circulating online, alleged to be sharing bundles of money in Akure, the state capital.
An online news media in Nigeria, Sahara Reporters shared the video with the caption, “VIDEO: Governor Aiyedatiwa Allegedly Throws Bundles of Naira Notes In Akure To Entice Voters”. The video, posted on X was retweeted by Mcmankey Manley.
Sahara Reporters also shared the post on its Facebook page and website.
A news blog, Tori news also shared the post by Sahara Reporters and a reaction from a legal practitioner, Lade Ebiwanno, who slammed the governor for such illegal public display.
Screenshot of the retweeted post on X
We also found the video with the same caption as used by Sahara Reporters on Instagram. It can be found on X here, here and here.
Given the doubt surrounding the video and the sensitivity of the allegation, we decided to verify the claim.
Verification
First, we examined the content of the video using a magnifier. We discovered that a TikTok handle is on the video and it belongs to Governor Aiyedatiwa – @luckyaiyedatiwa. This indicates that the video was retrieved from the governor’s TikTok page.
Governor Aiyedatiwa’s TikTok page
We visited the governor’s TikTok page to check if the video exists there and we found it.
We also analysed the video content using a magnifier. We discovered that the items being thrown by the governor do not look like money but the video was not clear enough to confirm what the items were.
We could only ascertain that the colour of the items being thrown is white.
Comments under the video on the governor’s page revealed that some TikTok users believed the items thrown were money while others believed they were clothes and caps.
One of the aides to the governor, Yomi Oyekan replied a comment, claming that the items were caps, not money.
He also posted on his X page to state that Governor Aiyedatiwa was given out branded caps in the video.
We searched accessible political Whatsapp groups in Ondo State for similar videos and we found two on one of the platforms. The videos can be seen here and here.
A close analysis of the videos showed the items thrown by the governor are clothing materials, like campaign vests/caps.
To further clear doubts around the items thrown, we conducted a keyword search of the allegation, using words such as “Aiyedatiwa throwing bundles of money”, “Governor Aiyedatiwa sharing money in Akure” and related keywords.
Our search results took us back to Sahara Reporters’ website and social media handles. We did not see any report from any credible medium that reported that the governor was throwing money in Akure.
We only found the blog post by Tori News, which also relied on Sahara Reporters’ post.
In a rebuttal on his Facebook page, the Special Assistant to Governor Aiyedatiwa, on New Media , Sunday Abire condemned Sahara Reporter for sharing misleading information.
Part of the rebuttal reads: “The report circulated by SaharaReporters alleging Governor Aiyedatiwa of spraying money on the streets of Akure to entice voters is misleading, insensitive and poor.
“The truth remains that Governor Aiyedatiwa never threw the naira notes to his supporters in the said video. A critical look at the video shows that the Governor throws campaign materials (caps). This is not hidden as the campaign materials were not sealed or concealed. It was visible to the blind.”
In a turn of event, while writing this report, we discovered that Sahara Reporters deleted the video from its website and social media pages. This is an indication that the claim was pulled down by the news channel due to lack of authenticity.
Sahara Reporters’ website, Facebook and X pages after deleting the post
Conclusion
The video claiming that Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa was throwing bundles of money in Akure is false.
The governor was throwing campaign vests and caps and the allegation was later deleted by the author, Sahara Reporters.
