Fact-check: Times Okonjo-Iweala’s Name Used to Spread Fake Information on WhatsApp, Facebook, X
BY: Quadri Yahya
The Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala apparently avoids spreading misinformation, yet unscrupulous social media users are relentlessly attributing inciting and misleading statements to her.
The latest of such misleading attributions is an X post that Dr. Okonjo-Iweala facilitated a “$57.7 billion” loan from the World Bank and International Monetary Funds to the “Biafra Government in Exile”.
“Breaking News The World Bank and IMF have agreed to loan the sum of $57.5 billion to Biafra Republic Government in Exile (BRGIE) to form our government after December 2nd 2024 declaration of Biafra. I thank our sister, Ngozi Okonjo-lweala for helping me to facilitate the loan,” an X post reads.
The post supposedly was tweeted by Simon Ekpa, a controversial figure advocating for Biafra.
The proscribed group, Biafra, has been found to weaponize misinformation to spread its agenda.
Dr. Okonjo-Iweala’s disclaimer has amassed a cumulative 800k engagement on X in less than 24 hours
While Dr. Okonjo-Iweala quickly dismissed the claim, Ekpa has also denied ever making such a post even though some media users insisted it was his handiwork.
Ekpa’s disclaimer has also garnered about 200k engagement
Many online publications have made news out of Dr. Okonjo-Iweala’s disclaimer. FactCheck Africa reports that this is not the first time WTO DG’s name has been negatively exploited to spread fake information.
Targeted Disinformation
Following her second visitation to President Bola Tinubu last year, a viral letter claimed that Dr. Okonjo-Iweala was faced with threats.
“A visit I made for the good of our dear nation is what they are using to threaten my life and family. You don’t recognise someone as your president yet begging him to save you from the hands of killers in your region,” the viral letter purportedly written by Dr. Okonjo-Iweala reads.
She dismissed the letter, saying it was not from her nor from her office.
Similarly, she was forced to debunk a viral WhatsApp broadcast message earlier in May, 2024.
She had to also disown a claim that she was wooing investors for Nigeria. The purported statement could have had a significant impact on the public whose optimism dwindles as the country contends with economic hardship.
“I am bringing investors to Nigeria using the president’s commendale policies as a bait. Is that too difficult to understand? President Tinubu‘s reforms might be harsh now but they would birth a new and prosperous nation,” the post reads.
In the same way, a fabricated message circulating on Facebook around June also attributed a statement to Dr. Okonjo-Iweala.
According to the purported message, she had said: “Nigeria debt for the first time in history has risen to 24 trillion in just two months even after removing subsidy is something unbelievable. I call several times to help and advise but the current administration and cabals refuse to let me come in. How can you remove fuel subsidy with a debt of 24 trillion in two months.”
However, she, again, took to X to dismiss the poorly constructed, misleading writeup attributed to her.
FactCheck Africa observes that the avalanche of misinformation maliciously circulated using the name of the World Trade Organization leader, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala, could endanger her personality, mental health and work.
