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| - By Yunusa Umar
A video showing hundreds of youths chanting multiple songs at the Emir of Ilorin’s palace has surfaced online with a claim that it shows hungry mobs protesting over hunger in Kwara state.
The 26-second footage shows hundreds of youths chanting songs by the entrance to the palace of of Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, who is the Emir of Ilorin and chairman of Kwara State Traditional Rulers Council, over hunger and hardship in Nigeria.
An X user, @Omoelerinjare, with over 48,000 followers posted the video alongside the claim on February 17, 2024.
His caption read: “Breaking News: Serious protest at the Emir’s Palace in Ilorin Kwara State! “We are Hungry, the state is Hungry”.
The claim has garnered over 400,000 views, more than 2,000 reposts, over 700 comments quotes and 2,700 likes as of February 18, 2024.
The video was also shared by many X users as seen here, here and here. It has also gone viral on multiple social media platforms including Instagram, Nairaland and TikTok, among others.
CLAIM
Video shows youths protesting over hunger at the Emir of Ilorin’s Palace in Kwara state.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is MISLEADING.
Checks revealed that the video has been online since as far back as 2021 as seen in a Facebook post here.
When contacted the emir’s spokesman, Mallam Abdulazeez Arowona told The FactCheckHub that the video is old, stating that it was an old video prior to Nigeria’s 2019 general elections.
“The video is an incident from 2019 when they were preparing for the 2019 general election. It was the kind of gimmick used among politicians then just to outsmart themselves”.
He added that the Emir’s palace being the central point for all and sundry was a meeting point for solidarity.
“The released video does not have anything to do with the current situation. It is an old video that people are circulating online in response to the hardship in the country”, he said.
Local media platforms also reported that the video is an old footage as published by Trust Radio and Punch newspaper.
THE VERDICT
The claim that youths stormed the Emir of Ilorin’s palace over hunger in Kwara state is MISLEADING; checks show that it is an old video which has been online as far back as 2021.
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