BY: Oluwaseye Ogunsanya
Claim
An X user @KemPatriot posted a video claiming that former Kano Governor and presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) in the last general election, Sen. Rabiu Kwankwaso addressed the press following his closed-door meeting with President Bola Tinubu.
Verdict
Misleading!
Full Text
An X user @KemPatriot posted a video, claiming that former Kano Governor and presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) in the last general election, Sen. Rabiu Kwankwaso addressed the press following his closed-door meeting with President Bola Tinubu.
Screenshot of the video with claim
“🔥Honourable Kwankwaso addressed the press following his closed-door meeting with @officialABAT.
Game on!
#KemKem” She posted.
There have been widely circulated speculations about the defection of top political heavyweights in the opposition in recent times, as the clamour for the re-election of President Bola Tinubu in 2027 continues to gains momentum.
These speculations gained further traction when Governor Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta State, along with his deputy, his predecessor Ifeanyi Okowa (who was also Atiku Abubakar’s running mate in the 2023 elections), and several commissioners reportedly defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Similarly, the lawmaker representing Kano South Senatorial District, Kawu Sumaila, confirmed his defection from the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) to the APC. It was also reported that a six-term member of the House of Representatives who represents Obokun/Oriade federal constituency in Osun state, announced his resignation as a member of the PDP yesterday.
FactCheckAfrica observes that while the reports speculating the defection of top members of the opposition parties to the ruling APC remain unconfirmed, there is a high tendency for their supporters to spread misinformation in order to deliberately mislead the public.
The video accompanying the claim in question has garnered over 95,000 views, 277 reposts, 782 likes, and 22 quotes and it can also be found here and here.
Picture of the alleged meeting shared by Peter Obi Grassroots Mobilization on X
Verification
To verify the claim, FactCheckAfrica conducted a Google search to see if it had been reported by any credible news outlets, but found no such reports. An attempt to verify through the official X and Facebook pages of Kwankwaso also proved unsuccessful.
We then took a screenshot of the short video clip and ran it through Google Reverse Image Search. The results revealed that the video was from a news report covering Kwankwaso’s visit to Tinubu at the Presidental Villa in June 2023.
According to Channels, the meeting was in furtherance of Tinubu’s “consultations with Kwankwaso who is expected to work with the new government.” TheCable reported that Tinubu had met with Kwankwaso about two weeks before his inauguration as president for four hours in Paris, France and they also spoke on issues around the election of the national assembly leaders ahead of the June 13 inauguration.
During the meeting, Tinubu was also said to have expressed concern over the strained relations between Abdullahi Ganduje, former governor of Kano state, and Kwankwaso — and promised to broker peace between them. The full video of Kwankwaso addressing the State House Press after the meeting can be found here.
Tinubu and Kwankwaso joined by Chief of Staff Femi Gbajabiamila and Kano Lawmaker, Adulmumin Jibrin
Conclusion
The claim is misleading, as there is no credible report supporting it yet. Our findings also reveal that the attached video is old and has been used to mislead the public.
