On January 18, 2023, media outlet Sahara Reporters posted a video, showing “unknown gunmen” attacking a man wearing a black shirt.
The viral video which at the time of this report had seen over 600,000 views on Twitter was posted with the narrative, “unknown gunmen ambush man wearing Peter Obi’s campaign T-shirt, destroy car, insist no political campaign in South East Nigeria.”
Verification
The video truly shows a man under attack by unknown gunmen. The attack according to the video took place in the middle of the road along a bush path with visible evidence of a recently quenched inferno— depicting that the environment could be that of unrest.
However, a critical review of the video shows that the picture on the T-shirt is not the image of Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate. Below the image (on the shirt), there is an inscription “#Mbah….”
We checked and found that the image printed on the black T-shirt is that of Peter Mbah, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) gubernatorial candidate for Enugu.
There have been multiple comments under the post suggesting that the video was staged and the motive was to instil fear in the minds of political enthusiasts, the Labour Party supporters in the south east.
Others say the video was made to reduce public display of support for the Labour Party Candidate, which could include wearing the customised shirt.
Verdict
The caption by Sahara Reporters’ is false. The video does not show an attack on a man wearing Peter Obi’s campaign T-shirt.
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