On November 30, 2022, a claim went viral on WhatsApp alleging that the Chagoury group is owned by Tinubu’s allies in France and that they paid the sum of £94, 530, 000 ( N112, 490, 700 billion) to the account of INEC chairman, Professor Mahmud Yakubu’s son, Naaim Mahmud Yakubu, on February 3, 2023, three weeks to the 2023 presidential election in Nigeria.
Attached to the claim are images of an HSBC Continental Europe receipt and an incoming payment notification mail. Are these reciepts evidence of the claim?
Claim: Receipts from HSBC show Chagoury Group paid £94, 530, 000 to Naaim Mahmud Yakubu, INEC chairman’s son
Verification:
The CDD War Room traced the claim and attached images to a Twitter user’s page. However, the tweet has been deleted.
We got hold of the images attached to the claim and found some discrepancies, and evidence of manipulation.
The first one is the sentence that reads, “Your transaction has been successfully processes at 09:50 CET on 2023-02-03.” This is clearly a typographical error made by whoever edited the receipt, as the sentence is supposed to be “Your transaction has been successfully processed at 09:50 CET on 2023-02-03.”
The second discrepancy is that the amount “£94, 530, 000” has a darker shade of black than all other text on the attached receipts.
Finally, the important details on the receipt, such as the reference number, beneficiary and sender’s account details that would have helped get more details about the alleged transaction are covered.
Verdict: FALSE
The bank notifications being circulated to make the claim that the Chagoury group paid £94, 530, 000 to Naaim Mahmud Yakubu, the INEC chairman’s son have been apparently manipulated. We can confirm that the receipt were edited and are clearly not from the HSBC Continental Europe.
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