| schema:text
| - A claim that Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu, the wife of the late Governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu, has married his younger brother has been trending online.
An X account, @instablog9ja, posted the claim on Apr 6, 2024, with a caption:
“Late Ondo’s Gov. Akeredolu’s widow, Betty, ‘remarries’ his younger brother.”
The post was accompanied by screenshots of a post by Betty, the widow of Akeredolu.
The post has garnered over 1.5M views, more than 6.5K likes, over 1.1K comments, and 1.3K reposts as of April 8, 2024.
Other online blogs also shared this claim as can be seen here, and here.
CLAIM
Late Ondo’s Governor Akeredolu’s widow, Betty, remarried his younger brother.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is FALSE.
Contrary to the claim, the Late Ondo’s Governor Akeredolu’s widow, Betty in a series of posts on her Instagram handle, which can be found here, here, and here, explained in detail what the ceremony known as “Mgbafu Mkpe” entailed.
Further findings by The FactCheckHub, showed that the “Mgbafu Mkpe” is a traditional Igbo ceremony performed shortly after the demise and burial of a woman’s husband in Igbo land, dominant in the Owerri region of Imo state.
The family of the woman’s husband would indicate interest in still having the widow live with them or not. Upon saying yes, the in-laws would hand the widow back to the husband’s family after performing some rituals.
Should the husband’s family say no, certain rituals are also conducted to free the woman from her husband’s family
Further checks by The FactCheckHub showed that the ceremony was explained in detail in the screenshotted image written by Betty which was also attached in the post made by the claimant.
Also, a national daily, The Nation newspaper provided more context about the image and explained in detail the “Mgbafu mkpe” ceremony performed for Betty by her kindred.
THE VERDICT
The claim that the Late Ondo’s Governor Akeredolu’s widow, Betty, remarried his younger brother is FALSE; checks revealed that it was a tradition performed for widows that does not require marrying any member of the family in particular.
Amala is a tactical Fact-Checker, who is passionate about using Fact-checking to curb the spread of Misinformation and Disinformation which has become prevalent in the media space. She can be reached on X at muonweblessing and LinkedIn on Amala Blessing Muonwe
Thank you for doing a great job 😘
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)