Charles Oputa, popularly known as Charly Boy, posted a video via his verified Twitter handle, claiming to show Dino Melaye, a spokesperson of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Council, asking Nigerians to support Peter Obi of the Labour Party.
The renowned musician, who is a staunch supporter of Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate, shared the video with a caption, expressing his shock at what looks like Melaye campaigning for Obi.
The video shows Dino saying, “those who are candidates of any political party today seeking for the presidency of this country have the capacity and potential to bring us together as a nation”.
“So I want to say it is time for us to think and encourage the crusade, the movement started by Peter Obi, to continue, move from campus to campus, move from community to community, move from one progressive group and organization to another to campaign for a new Nigeria that is to come and be part of the movement.”
Claim: Video shows Dino Melaye canvassing for Peter Obi.
Verification
The CDD Election War Room traced the original video to Viable TV’s youtube page and found that it was uploaded on July 2, 2022 with the caption: “Don’t fall for social media drama, wait for your time, Dino Melaye tells Peter Obi”.
The original video, which is six minutes and 26 seconds long, shows Dino Melaye expressing support for Atiku Abukar, the presidential candidate of the opposition PDP.
“Atiku Abubakar is a Pan Nigerian, only him among those who are candidates of any political party today seeking for the presidency of this country have the capacity and potential to bring us together as a nation. So I want to say it is time for us to think and encourage the crusade, the movement started by Peter Obi, to continue, move from campus to campus, move from community to community, move from one progressive group and organization to another to campaign for a new Nigeria that is to come and be part of the movement of Atiku Abubakar to rebuild, to restructure, to reorganize, and reboot Nigeria as a country,” Melaye said.
Debunking the viral video, Dino Melaye posted an excerpt of the original video on his Instagram page saying, “Full video of my broadcast. Please ignore the doctored lie and propaganda of the Obidients.”
Verdict
The video posted by Charly Boy on Twitter is real. Melaye indeed granted the interview, however, the part uploaded was cut out from the longer version of the interview to put his words out of context, and push a false narrative that Dino Melaye is now supporting Peter Obi.