By: Quadri Yahya
Claim: President Bola Tinubu has ordered Rivers State sole administrator, Retired Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas to handover to suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
Verdict: False.
Full Text:
On April 26, a Facebook page claims that President Tinubu has ordered the installed sole administrator of Rivers State rtd. Ibas to handover to suspended Governor Fubara.
The claim is a caption to a video showing Fubara and some military personnel and others.
“Congratulations the military have handover to Fubara. President Bola Ahmed TInibu order the sole Administrator to hand over power to Governor SIM Fubara with immediate effect……”, the caption reads.
Recall that President Tinubu declared a state of emergency in Rivers State amid the power tussle between Fubara, the legislative arm and the former Governor of the state and now the minister Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.
Fubara and the lawmakers were thereby suspended for six months.
The recent claim emerges amid reports that President Tinubu held a meeting with Fubara in London.
The claim has garnered more than 170 engagements in less than 12 hours. So far, the attached video has attracted 4.6k views.
Verification:
FactCheckAfrica observes that no mainstream media report the supposed directives that the sole administrator should handover to the suspended governor.
Using Google Image Search on key frames of the video, alongside keywords, FactCheckAfrica discovers that the video has been online since March 5.
screenshot of claim||FCA
“Fubara lands at air force base, meets with chief of army staff”, reads the caption on the video posted on the YouTube channel of a media outlet, Symfoni.
Conclusion:
The video in circulation to amplify the narrative that President Tinubu has ordered sole administrator Ibas to handover to the suspended governor of Rivers State Fubara is misleading.
