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| - A former Nigerian lawmaker and spokesperson of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, Senator Dino Melaye, has shared a photo alongside a claim that suggests that the chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu’s life is in danger.
He tweeted the screenshot photo which had the image of the INEC chairman atop a news headline, which reads:
Breaking: My life is at risk, INEC chairman cries out.
In his tweet, Melaye captioned the photo thus: ‘Please go to court’.
The tweet which was made on Monday, March 6, 2023 has garnered 1.2 million views, over 2,800 retweets and 18, 200 likes as of Thursday, March 9, 2023.
Melaye has about 3.4 million followers on Twitter.
READ : No! Video does not show Dino Melaye fainted after Kogi governorship election
Another online user, Anchor Network, which has over 100,000 subscribers on YouTube, also posted an audio-visual report of the same claim.
The 8-minutes long video report, which was posted on March 5, now has over 6,900 views as of Thursday.
This claim is coming days after Professor Yakubu oversee the conduct of Nigeria’s 2023 Presidential and National Assembly Election.
The election results are currently being challenged in court by the two main opposition presidential candidates, Peter Obi of the Labour Party and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
CLAIM
INEC Chairman cries out that his life is at risk.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by the FactCheckHub show that the claim is FALSE.
The screenshot photo which Melaye tweeted doesn’t bear the name of any news blog or website. Apart from the image and headline, no detailed report was seen on it.
When the headline was subjected to a search using Google lens and Google reverse image tools, it displayed a report published four years ago by thebiafrastar.com, which content is no longer accessible on the internet.
Further search shows that no credible media platform reported the claim attributed to the INEC chairman.
READ MORE : Dino Melaye shares misleading video of Nigerian Army accusing Wike of attempting to compromise election
When contacted, Rotimi Oyekanmi, the Chief Press Secretary/Media Adviser to the INEC chairman, told the FactCheckHub: “It’s fake. At no time did the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu speak about his life being at risk. This is the work of mischief makers. Prof. Yakubu’s life is not at risk. He is fine.”
THE VERDICT
The claim that the INEC Chairman cries out that his life is at risk is FALSE; Professor Yakubu’s spokesperson debunked it.
Seasoned fact-checker and researcher Fatimah Quadri has written numerous fact-checks, explainers, and media literacy pieces for The FactCheckHub in an effort to combat information disorder. She can be reached at sunmibola_q on X or [email protected].
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