Saharah Reporters recently posted a video on their verified Instagram page with the claim that it shows the moment the All Progressives Congress (APC) political campaign was thwarted in Ondo State. This is coming in the build up to the off-cycle governorship election scheduled for November 16, 2024 in the State.
The video was posted on June 21, 2024 and captioned, “WATCH: Angry Youths Thwart APC Campaign In Ondo Community.” It has garnered over 5,000 likes as of when it was retrieved from Instagram.
In the video, a male youth could be heard speaking in pidgin, saying “people dey feel hungry and una dey do campaign. Oya off your cloth, which APC. See wetin people dey eat, una dey do campaign.”
Public campaign by political parties commenced on June 19, 2024, according to the off-cycle election timetable by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Claim: Video shows the moment angry youths disrupted APC campaign in Ondo State
Verification
To verify the authenticity of the claim, we critically analysed the video and identified a campaign poster on the vehicle being attacked, which read “Re-elect Sanwo-Olu and Hamzat.”
Additionally, a banner on the other side of the road displayed the text “Hope 2023.” These details indicate that the video was filmed in Lagos State and has been circulating on the internet since before June 2024, when campaign commenced in Ondo State.
To further ascertain the veracity of the claim, we conducted a keyword search to confirm if such incident happened in Ondo state. We found that the Ondo State Police Command had issued a press statement earlier in May where it debunked the claim attached to the viral video.
“The Command is using this medium to inform and equally enjoined the general public to discountenance the message as the content of the video did not happen in Ondo state as political campaign is yet to start,” part of the press statement read.
Verdict: FALSE
Findings by the CDD War Room reveal that the incident depicted in the viral video did not occur in Ondo State. In fact, the Ondo State Police Command had previously debunked a similar claim in May 2024. Our observations indicate that the video was shot in Lagos State.