Tiamiyu Damilare, a Nigerian YouTube influencer, recently made a statement during an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in which he claimed that Nigerians who aspire to study in the United Kingdom (UK) consider it as an opportunity to escape from Nigeria.
This interview sparked mixed reactions, with speculations that Damilare’s statement played a role in the UK’s decision to impose stricter immigration measures, including a proposed ban on most foreign students, including Nigerians, from bringing their families to the country.
Since the interview, Damilare, also known as Emdee, has faced considerable backlash, and multiple claims have emerged in connection with the controversial interview.
Claim I: Multiple Instagram posts by Tunde Ednut and Gossipmilltv claimed that Emdee Tiamiyu, prior to migrating to the UK, was an operative of the Nigeria Police.
Verification
The CDD Election War Room conducted a verification process to investigate the claim and discovered that Tiamiyu, while residing in Nigeria, used to create comic/ skit videos. He operated under the alias “Boda Majidi” on various social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, where he shared his video content. Therefore, the viral pictures depicting him wearing a police uniform were actually captured during one of his comedy videos.
Verdict: False
Contrary to multiple posts on social media, we can confirm that Tiamiyu was not an officer of the Nigeria Police during his time in Nigeria.
Claim II: A Twitter user claimed in a post, which has since garnered over a million views, that picture shows the moment Tiamiyu was migrating to the UK in September 2023
Verification
In order to verify the claim, we traced the source of the picture and discovered that it was not taken during Tiamiyu’s migration to the UK as claimed.
We examined Tiamiyu’s YouTube page, where he shares video content related to education, travel, and other topics. Upon review, we found that the picture in question was actually captured during his trip from Switzerland back to the UK.
Further investigation revealed that Tiamiyu had already been in the UK prior to September 2022, contrary to the claim made in the viral Twitter post.
Verdict: False
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