FACT CHECK… Is the viral video of massive welcome for Buhari in Maiduguri true or false?
Claim: A viral video showing a massive crowd of people welcoming President Muhammadu Buhari was during his visit to Maiduguri on June 17, 2021
Source: The viral video which was obtained via WhatsApp was traced with an additional message “Buhari in Maiduguri, watch the massive crowd that came to welcome Buhari today. Daughters of Jerusalem do not weep for me, weep for yourselves and your children”
The video was traced to Goldmyne TV who credited Dele Momodu, the media mogul and publisher of Ovation magazine as the source of the video.
Dele Momodu had several pictures of the president in Maiduguri on his social media handles commissioning project and assessing the security, as well as the video to show how massively the president was welcomed in the troubled state.
Verification:
Google image search and Invid video verification, revealed that the video paraded as the welcome video of Buhari in Maiduguri first surfaced on the internet on February 25, 2020 when the president visited Ondo State.
It was traced to a Youtube Channel as well as BBC Pidgin facebook page with a caption “See how Ondo pipo welcome President Muhammadu Buhari wey visit the state today. If you remember wetin happun for Maiduguri, you go still argue say this Kain tin fit happun?” Which translates to See how the people of Ondo State welcomed President Muhammadu Buhari who visited the state today, if you remembered what happened in Maiduguri, you won’t believe that this kind of welcome can be possible.
The situation in Maiduguri referred to by BBC was when protesters booed the president for allowing the prevailing security situation to take over the state. The president had visited Maiduguri on February 13, 2020 before he went to Ondo on the 25th.
Conclusion: The video is old and was regurgitated to claim people in Borno now love Buhari against what happened during his last visit.
Verdict: False
•Source: Ripples Nigeria
