Beyond the Viral: Investigating the Veracity of the Emir’s Palace Protest Claims

By Mustapha Lawal 

Claim

A Twitter user (@omoelerinjare) claimed in a ‘breaking news’ tweet with a video that there was a serious protest with chants of “We are hungry, the state is hungry” at the Emir’s Palace in Ilorin Kwara State as regards the current state of economy in the state. 

The tweet reads, “Breaking News: Serious protest at the Emir’s Palace in Ilorin Kwara State!

”We are Hungry, The state is Hungry”

The people in the video chanted in Yoruba, “The people are hungry,” in response to a call from a masculine voice leading the chorus.

As of the time of filing this report, the tweet has garnered over 393,600 views, 2,400 reposts, 400 quoted reposts,  2,800 likes, 233 bookmarks and 720 comments. Various versions of the tweet are also seen across the platform here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

Cumulatively, the posts with the same claims found under the tweet search “Protest in Ilorin” are from over 30 different users.

Verdict

Misleading! FactCheckAfrica already debunked the claim that there was a protest in front of the Emir of Ilorin’s palace. The video being either doctored or authentic cannot yet be substantiated. Although, it is clear the context of its usage is misleading.

Full text

Claims have circulated online that a protest was held on Saturday, 17th February 2024 in front of the Emir’s Palace in Ilorin to lament over the poverty and hardship across the state. The claims have been in circulation since yesterday on different platforms including Facebook, YouTube, and X formerly known as Twitter.

The claim originated from a tweet by @Omoelerinjare, where he claimed in a breaking news tweet with a video that there was a serious protest with chants of “We are hungry, the state is hungry” at the Emir’s Palace in Ilorin Kwara State.

Reacting to the claim, the Spokesman to HRH Emir of Ilorin and Chairman Kwara State Traditional Rulers Council, Mallam Abdulazeez Arowona, said their attention has been drawn to a video in circulation on social media platforms where some people are shouting and lamenting over poverty and hardship in front of the Emir’s Palace in Ilorin. He debunked the claim saying “We want to state that the video was part of the events that were characterised and witnessed during the build-up to the 2019 general elections”

Senior Special Assistant on Communications to Kwara state Governor, Ibraheem Abdullateef was also seen calling the claim a cheap incitement. “There has been no protest in any part of Ilorin. This is a doctored video of an old event at the Emir’s Palace where people were hailing him and the Governor” He claimed in his quoted tweet to one of the posts.

This is after reports showing that some states in Nigeria have been protesting over the economic downturn in the country. Reports here, and here show the states that have protested so far.

Verification

FactCheckAfrica conducted a thorough technical check on the video to determine if it was doctored or altered in any form. The findings revealed that the attached video to the posts exhibits technical attributes that warrant analysis. The video has a relatively short duration of 26 seconds, with a resolution of 320 x 522 pixels. Notably, the frame rate is relatively high at 49.71 fps, which can be considered unusual for standard video playback where common frame rates are typically 24, 30, or 60 fps. The video is encoded with the h264 codec, a common video compression standard. In terms of audio, the duration is slightly longer than the video at 27 seconds, and the audio is mono with a standard sample rate of 44 kHz, encoded with the AAC codec.

While these technical specifications provide insights into the video’s composition, determining its authenticity as either original or doctored requires additional context. The analysis of authenticity typically involves considering factors beyond technical attributes, such as the content itself, its source, and potential signs of manipulation.

Therefore, based solely on the provided technical information, a definitive conclusion regarding the video’s authenticity cannot be drawn without further examination of its content and context.

Upon subjecting keyframes to a Google Reverse Image Search, FactCheckAfrica verified the video’s background as the Emir of Ilorin Palace. However, the video was found to have been posted in 2021 by various sources, indicating it was not a recent occurrence. Official statements from the palace spokesperson, Kwara Police Command, and previous blog posts further discredited the claim of a recent protest.

The video was posted on the Twitter page of the former aviation Minister, Mr Femi Fani Kayode on May 18 2021 with the caption: “A sign of the times. Ilorin Central Mosque. The crowd is chanting: The people are hungry!”

FactCheckAfrica found that the video had also been published by blogs with similar claims of fresh protests in 2021. The video was mostly posted online in May. Some of the blogs that posted this video at the time published it here, here and here.

Also, FactCheckAfrica found an official statement of Mallam Abdulazeez Arowona, the Spokesman to HRH Emir of Ilorin and Chairman Kwara State Traditional Rulers Council, debunking the occurrence of a protest in the Emir’s Palace as circulated across various platforms.

The statement titled ‘REACTION TO VIRAL VIDEO’ states that the video does not have any connection with the current situation in the country. “We want to state that the video was part of the events that were characterised and witnessed during the build-up to the 2019 general elections”. However, all efforts to get that 2019 video as claimed by the Emir’s spokesperson proved abortive.

The Kwara Police Command also stated that the said viral video has been studied and declares that “No such gathering took place in any part of Ilorin in the recent times, including the Emir’s Palace.

“The video in circulation is a doctored version of the true representation of a socio-cultural event in the forecourt of the Emir’s Palace some years ago” the statement signed by DSP Ejire Adeyemi Toun, the Public Relations Officer and spokesperson of the commissioner of Police, Kwara state command, reads.

Conclusion

The fact-check report concludes that the claim of a protest at the Emir’s Palace is misleading, and debunked by credible sources. While the video’s authenticity could not be definitively determined based on technical attributes alone, it is clear that the context in which it was presented is misleading. Stakeholders, including the palace spokesperson and the police, have confirmed that no recent protest occurred at the specified location, reinforcing the report’s verdict of “Misleading.”