A Facebook ad by the page “Unión Patriótica Córdoba” featured a doctored image of Kadaria Ahmed, a prominent Nigerian journalist and CEO of RadioNow, depicted in a jail uniform with a battered face. The ad mimicked the style of a news report from Vanguard newspaper, a prominent Nigerian media outlet, falsely suggesting that Ahmed had broken the law with her statements. The caption read, “We are saying goodbye to her forever.” Additionally, the ad included a link that closely resembled one from Arise TV, a popular Nigerian broadcasting station.
Verification Process
Given the risks associated with data collection by unscrupulous individuals for cyberattacks and tracking, a VPN was used to secure the system before clicking the link to verify the claim and source.
Initial Observations:
Upon clicking the link, it was noticed that the URL resembled a booking site, with the name ‘fly-direct,’ rather than one affiliated with Arise TV, Vanguard, or even a legitimate ticketing service. The site, mimicked the appearance of Vanguard newspaper.
The page’s content falsely claimed that Ahmed, during a live broadcast on Arise TV, revealed how she became a billionaire. The report alleged that the show was interrupted by the Central Bank of Nigeria, which demanded its discontinuation. The article claimed that the broadcast had been deleted and that the content was obtained only after much persuasion from Arise TV’s director. However, the report failed to specify the exact show or the date it was aired, though it implied it was from the popular “Morning Show,” as suggested by the images attached.
Upon reviewing the report, it became clear that the article centered around a trading platform called Paragonix Earn, claiming that both Ahmed and her interviewer, Abatti, invested in the platform during the show. A screenshot allegedly showing Abatti investing live was also included.
Confirming the Original Interview on Arise TV
Using a simple Google search, the original video of the interview was found on Arise TV’s YouTube channel. The interview, which took place two years ago on August 3, 2022, focused on Ahmed discussing the role of media in addressing insecurity. Both the interviewers and Ahmed were wearing the same attire as depicted in the doctored report.
Comparing with Vanguard
The first discrepancy noticed was the date displayed on the cloned site. Vanguard’s official website always displays the current date, while the cloned site showed April 15, 2024. Moreover, while Vanguard clearly states the publication date of each story, the cloned site’s articles were ambiguously marked as published “today.”
Another major difference was also noted in the website addresses. Vanguard’s official site is https://www.vanguardngr.com/, whereas the cloned site used https://fly-direct.com/. The article’s author was listed as Gov. Uzodimma, the current governor of Imo State, whose full name is Hope Odidika Uzodimma—a clear red flag.
Another key difference was in site functionality: while Vanguard’s site leads users to various sections upon clicking, the cloned site redirected users to the Paragonix Earn trading platform.
The Paragonix Earn Site
The display page of the Paragonix Earn trading platform featured images of prominent Nigerian financial top shots and entrepreneurial figures like Dangote, Alakija, Otedola, and Elumelu, falsely endorsing the platform and praising the profits they had allegedly made.
The details of the website shows that it was registered 14 years ago and updated this year.
However, we could not determine the prior activities of the website, as it had never been archived. We did observe, however, that there are several websites with similar names, primarily focused on booking flights and transportation, with one notable example being https://www.flydirect.com/.
About the Facebook page
Additionally, a check was conducted on “Unión Patriótica Córdoba,” the page name and logo used to run the ad. This name corresponds to a political party based in Colombia. Upon reviewing their Facebook page, we found that the last post was made on July 15, 2024. After thoroughly examining the page, we found no posts related to Kadaria Ahmed. It should be noted that after a July 10, 2021 post, further posts by the page were hi, go and other unitelligent words. This indicates that the page more likely has been hacked.
However, we discovered that the page was actively running multiple ads featuring Kadaria Ahmed, similar to the one we encountered.
Through the page’s transparency information, we found that it was being managed by individuals based in the US, Poland, Lithuania, and Ukraine, none of whom appeared to be based in Colombia or Nigeria.
We also noted that the ads began appearing this year, and some were taken down by Facebook for violating its policies. It’s worth mentioning that one of the other targets of these deceptive ads was Romanian TV anchor Denise Rifai. In an inactive ad, a post with the caption “Ne luăm rămas bun de la Denise Rifai, cea mai tristă zi pentru România” was published, which, when translated using Google Translate, read, “We say goodbye to Denise Rifai, the saddest day for Romania.”
A link attached to Rifai’s ad is no longer active, but the content bears a striking resemblance to the ad targeting Kadaria Ahmed.
We also found that another link attached to different post about the eyes was also not active.
A domain check on both accounts indicate dispricancies on the details of the sites registrar.
Verdict: FALSE
The ad on Nigerians saying goodbye to Ahmed is false. Registering on it would not only give these individuals access to your private information but would most likely increase your chances to be scammed. While we are not certain if Unión Patriótica Córdoba has been hacked, the pages activities indicate so.
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