A day before the November 16, 2024 Ondo State Governorship election, a claim went viral across social media that three top candidates had withdrawn from the race. The claim has since been widely reshared on social media, especially on WhatsApp, with a news website/ blog link attached.
Claim: Did three top candidates withdraw from the Ondo governorship race?
ALL WE KNOW:
The CDD War Room found that the WhatsApp version of the claim reads “Breaking! Three Top Candidates Withdraw From Ondo Governorship Race, See Why.”
However, the link attached to the headline, redirecting to an online news platform “Dockaysworld,” has the title “Three candidates withdraw from Ondo Governorship race.”
We found that the blog, which published the content did not specify the criteria with which it described the candidates as top three. The most credible news platforms that reported the development did not portray the candidates as “top three.” Their reports can be found here, here and here.
Nonetheless, the CDD War Room can confirm that Ajibola Falaye of the Accord Party (AP), Jenyo Ataunoko of the National Rescue Movement (NRM) and Olaide Ibrahim, deputy gubernatorial candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) have withdrawn from the gubernatorial race and declared their support for Lucky Aiyedatiwa of the All Progressives Congress (APC). They have since embarked on a solidarity visit to the governor who is the candidate of the ruling APC in the State.