Fact-Check: X User Claims Viral Image of Kano Legislator Sitting with Stacked Cash is Photoshopped

BY: Oluwaseye Ogunsanya 

Claim

X user, Boss Mustapha Z. posted two pictures of Aliyu Sani Madakin-Gini, the House of Representatives member representing Dala Federal Constituency, sitting behind a stacked bundle of Naira notes and another without the Naira notes, claiming thereafter that the first one is the original while the second one is photoshopped. 

Verdict

False. Our findings show that the picture is real and not photoshopped. 

Full Text

X user, Boss Mustapha Z. posted two pictures of Aliyu Sani Madakin-Gini, the House of Representatives member representing Dala Federal Constituency, sitting behind a stacked bundle of Naira notes and another without the Naira notes, claiming thereafter that the first one is the original while the second one is photoshopped. 

The user blamed Kwankwasiyya supporters for photoshopping the picture of the Federal legislator to push their propaganda. He therefore cautioned his followers to beware of what they see online. 

Photo Credit: Screenshot of the claim/X

The pictures have now gone viral and its veracity has been subject to much debate among users (especially those from the North) here, here and here, making it worthy of investigation by FactCheckAfrica. 

Verification

FactCheckAfrica did a check through some of the comment section of the claimant, we discovered a TikTok video of the Kano legislator sitting next to the cash and holding conversations with some of aides. 

This clue which seems to counter the claim, made us to search on TikTok by using the username on the video AliyuSaniMadakiTV, upon the further search we discovered that the video was downloaded from the Tiktok account belonging to Aliyu Sani Madakin-Gini, the House of Representatives member representing Dala Federal Constituency, Kano State who also doubles as the deputy Minority Leader, House of Representatives. 

Photo Credit: Screenshot of AliyuSaniMadakiTV TikTok Account 

The video was posted 5 times with different captions in Hausa such as “Day 7: shugabanin loacl government na Dala suma ga nasu.” which can be translated in English to “the local government chairman of Dala is also ours” and “Rana ta 7: rabo ga shugabannin Dala local government Area” which translates to “Day 7: Distribution to the leaders of Dala Local Government Area” in English.

We also observed that the legislator made three other posts showing cash stacked on the floor and in polythene bags. The videos were posted 3 days ago and one of them was captioned “Day 3. Empowering Dala Youth with startup.” Another related video captioned “Phase 2 lauch of Youth & Women Intervention Programs” was posted 4 days ago. 

The foregoing evidence indicates that the legislator is fond of doling out cash gift to his constituents as a form of empowerment interventions. 

Conclusion 

Based on the amount of evidence outlined in our findings, it can be concluded that the viral image is not AI generated or photoshopped as made by the claimant. Infact, the first picture that he attached to his claim was the one that was photoshopped and not the other way round.