During the week, a poster attributed to the Olumale Eluku of Ikorodu began making rounds online.
The alleged poster warned residents especially non-indigenes of the Ikorodu, Lagos and its environs to be weary of the Ikorodu township due to her Eluku festival which was from March 17, 2023, till March 21, 2023, to avoid seeing the “annoyance of their ancestors”.
Verification
CDD Election War Room checked the veracity of the claim by conducting several reverse image searches.
We found that the poster image making rounds had appeared severally over the years with several edits.
In 2017, a similar poster with Olumale of Eluku called Chief Nurudeen Kuti attributed as announcer warn non-indigenes of the area of the festival.
In 2018, another image with a distinct font colour attributed to the Adeyanju Olusoga family was also in the online media space.
By 2019, the poster had changed reflecting the name of a new Olumale of Eluku but bearing the same warning.
All posters analysed reflected the date of the festival as being in August except that of 2023. Also, this year’s poster also noted “original Yoruba’s” in contrast to “not original indigenes” and had the name of the 2019 Olumale of Eluku.
The Olumale Eluku whose name appeared in 2019 and 2023, Chief, High Chief Razak Shodipo is dead. He died in 2021.
The current Olumale High Chief Murisiku Olabanji OreAgba, however, debunked the viral report in a memo shared across media outlets and on social media.
Verdict
The poster image is false and has been debunked. The time period for the Eluku festival still remains August.