Fake News Spread as Nigerians Prepare to Vote
The campaign
to elect Nigeria's next president is drawing to a close with accusations flying
over the abuse of social media to spread misleading information.
Both of the
main political parties have told BBC Reality Check their rivals are involved in
the spread of disinformation.
The incumbent
president, Muhammadu Buhari, of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and his
main rival, Atiku Abubakar, running for the People's Democratic Party (PDP),
have both been the target of videos containing dubious or inaccurate
information, being shared online.
"There
has been some efforts by the PDP campaign to push disinformation," says
Tolu Ogunlesi, head of digital communications for President Buhari.
Both parties
deny any knowledge of people inside the party spreading disinformation.
"The
APC is predicated on propaganda - they have manipulated pictures and
words," says Paul Ibe, a media adviser to Mr Abubakar.
The APC
denies the accusations and attacks the PDP for spreading lies.
"Political
parties support and encourage the dissemination of divisive 'fake news' on
their behalf but have little control over its development and spread,"
according to Jonathan Fisher, who is overseeing a project looking at the role
of WhatsApp in Nigeria's elections.
Written
posts, photos and videos have been shared on social media platforms, publicly
on Facebook and in private WhatsApp groups, spreading unsubstantiated rumours
about the candidates.
One of the
most prominent is that a double is standing in for President Buhari at public
events, which he has repeatedly and firmly denied.
Here is a
round-up from Reality Check of some of the false rumours and misleading
information spread against the two men vying to become Nigeria's next
president.
One example
of disinformation, which started to appear on social media a few days ago, has
been about Leah Sharibu, a 15-year-old held captive for nearly a year by
Islamist militants Boko Haram for refusing to convert to Islam.
More than
100 girls were kidnapped from the village of Dapchi, in northern Nigeria, and
all but one have now been released.
The messages
and posts, spread on WhatsApp and Facebook, claimed that Leah had died - and
they quickly went viral.
An anonymous
"family source" had confirmed the death of the girl, according to
social media posts.
In response,
a government minister called the story "absolute fake news" and
Mr Ogunlesi, from Mr Buhari's campaign, says the story was used to deliberately
target the government.
The
accusation here is that opposition candidate Atiku Abubakar was behind a ploy
to hand out cash and food boxes at a political rally.
This story
was shared online by Lauretta Onochie, an aide to President Buhari, who posted
a photo of boxes wrapped together with Nigerian currency notes in the northern
state of Sokoto.
"Keep
them in poverty, then give them handouts - Atiku in Sokoto yesterday," she
wrote.
The Buhari
campaign denies spreading any disinformation.
However, the
photo is two years old and was taken at an event organised by the Kokun
Foundation, which campaigns against hunger.
A media
adviser for the Atiku campaign told BBC Reality Check: "Atiku will not
give handouts to anybody."
The
accusation here is that opposition candidate Atiku Abubakar was behind a ploy
to hand out cash and food boxes at a political rally.
This story
was shared online by Lauretta Onochie, an aide to President Buhari, who posted
a photo of boxes wrapped together with Nigerian currency notes in the northern
state of Sokoto.
"Keep
them in poverty, then give them handouts - Atiku in Sokoto yesterday," she
wrote.
The Buhari
campaign denies spreading any disinformation.
However, the
photo is two years old and was taken at an event organised by the Kokun
Foundation, which campaigns against hunger.
A media
adviser for the Atiku campaign told BBC Reality Check: "Atiku will not
give handouts to anybody."
And finally,
we've turned up an inaccurate story doing the rounds online portraying
Muhammadu Buhari as both unpatriotic and bestowing favours on a member of his
own ethnic group when he was military head of state in the 1980s.
This would
be potentially damaging to Mr Buhari's attempt to appeal to all Nigerians, not
just those from his own region.
The story
relates to Mr Buhari's failure to support the election of a Nigerian candidate
for the post of secretary general of the Organisation of African Unity, the
precursor of the African Union (AU).
Instead, the
story goes, he supported a non-Nigerian from the neighbouring country of Niger
- where a member of his own Fulani ethnic group was a candidate for the job.
This story
has been repeatedly and emphatically rejected by the president's spokesman,
Garba Shehu.
And finally,
we've turned up an inaccurate story doing the rounds online portraying
Muhammadu Buhari as both unpatriotic and bestowing favours on a member of his
own ethnic group when he was military head of state in the 1980s.
This would
be potentially damaging to Mr Buhari's attempt to appeal to all Nigerians, not
just those from his own region.
The story
relates to Mr Buhari's failure to support the election of a Nigerian candidate
for the post of secretary general of the Organisation of African Unity, the
precursor of the African Union (AU).
Instead, the
story goes, he supported a non-Nigerian from the neighbouring country of Niger
- where a member of his own Fulani ethnic group was a candidate for the job.
This story
has been repeatedly and emphatically rejected by the president's spokesman,
Garba Shehu.
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