Claim:
A video shared on X (formerly Twitter) claims that the President of the Commission Électorale Nationale Indépendante (CENI) – Independent National Electoral Commission – of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Denis Kazadi Kadima, was lynched after compromising the 2023 presidential election in the country.
Verdict:
The claim is false. While the video shows a woman being mobbed, a Google search indicated that the head of CENI is a man and not a woman. Social media posts also show that the woman is a supporter of an opposition candidate.
Full text:
An X user, @SabinaNkiru, posted a video claiming that CENI’s president was “humiliated after announcing fake and rigged results.” The account went on to read: “If INEC and Co was afraid of something even a little bit like this, our fortunes today will be much better.”
The 1:23 video has a woman being beaten by a mob while security personnel are trying to save her. Efforts for her to escape using a motorcycle with the help of the operatives is futile as the assault is intense, leading the actors to shelf the plan.
The video which had garnered 732,000 views saw other users calling for the replication of such in Nigeria to end the mistrust Nigerian electorate have with INEC.
Brief on DRC’s 2023 elections
The DRC held its general elections on December 20, 2023, with 26 candidates vying for the presidency.
According to a report by the BBC, the country was electing a president, along with national, provincial and local representatives, with 41 million voters choosing among 100,000 candidates “from at least 70 political parties and coalitions.”
It added that the elections were the fourth national elections since the return of multiparty democracy in 2006.
The major contestants are President Félix Tshisekedi; Moïse Katumbi, a business tycoon and former governor; Martin Fayulu, a former Exxon Mobil executive; and Denis Mukwege, a gynaecologist and 2018 Nobel Peace Prize winner.
CENI later announced that Tshisekedi won the presidential poll with 73.34 per cent of the total votes and Katumbi attained second position with about 18 per cent of the votes.
But in a statement by five other presidential candidates, they claimed that the elections marred by “irregularities sufficiently attest that the elections on December 20, 2023, was a sham organised in violation of the fundamental rights of the Congolese people.”
Verification:
A key frame analysis from the video showed that the event occurred in the DRC as the video emerged a day after the December 20, 2023 general elections.
An X account had posted the video the same day it was posted by @SabinaNkiru, with the same narrative that it was the electoral chairlady of the DRC that was lynched.
However, a screenshot of the video was posted on December 22, by @albcontact, lamenting how society is becoming vile with mob attacks, especially, women in the country under President Tshisekedi.
The earliest upload of the video was on December 21, by an account, @3Ledia3, which posted it with a comment in French saying the event happened in a province called Kasai in DRC and that the woman was a supporter of an opposition candidate.
A Google translation showed the post read: “The result of the hate speech of #Tshisekedi is there in #Kasaï! The only sin of this lynched woman is to talk about @moise_katumbi. This jungle practice must stop, we must not consider ourselves enemies….”
This position was corroborated by another account, @CopyThatKE, that the claim on the chairperson of the electoral commission in the video was false.
The account responded to another post thus: “This is misinformation. I have been following the DRC elections keenly. This was on the voting day. The lady was beaten at a place called Kasai for allegedly voting for Katumbi when that area is a known as a Tshisekedi stronghold. She is not an election official.”
Also, a check on Google search engine showed that the head of DRC’s electoral commission is Denis Kadima.
Kadima, who is a man, goes by the title “President of CENI”.
Conclusion:
The claim that the President of CENI was mobbed by the electorate is false. The video which was used to propel the narrative, according to social posts, is that of supporters of President a Tshisekedi attacking a supporter of one of the opposition candidates.
Did Peter Obi commend Tinubu on 50 % transport fare reduction?
Hajara Hussaini
The Guardian newspaper shared a tweet on X suggesting that the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in 2023, Peter Obi, commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s effort to reduce interstate transportation fares during the last end of year festive season.
The headline on their website reads: “Peter Obi hails Tinubu over 50% transport fare reduction, queries implementation.”
The tweet garnered a lot of reactions that prompted fact-checkers at Daily Trust to check its authenticity.
However, an X user shared a screenshot of Sahara Reporters take on what Obi tweeted and their headline read: “On-the-spot investigation at Nigerian major parks shows transporters aren’t aware of President Tinubu’s 50% discount – Peter Obi”
Other comments under the tweet asked the paper to tell the full story and not mislead the public.
Verification:
In a bid to verify the authenticity of the claim, we visited Obi’s verified X account to read the full thread that the Guardian quoted from and here is what we found: “I read the reports of the president’s approval of a 50 per cent slash in the price of interstate transport fare for Nigerians travelling during this Yuletide from Thursday 21, 2023, to January 4, 2024. The news report added that the president also approved free rides for commuters on all train services within the period. If fully implemented, as reported, I consider this first-time intervention of the government as intended to help the masses.”
Obi added that he took out time to inquire into the implementation across different cities but that he was disappointed.
The post further reads: “Today, I sent out contacts who consulted widely with the transporters in major parks across the country: in Abuja they carried out on-the-spot investigation in Jabi/Utako areas; in Lagos they visited major parks like Jibowo, Festac, Mile 12, Ajah and Mazamaza and none of the transporters in these parks was aware of this 50 per cent discount.”
At Upper Iweka, Onitsha, which is the main traffic hub in Anambra, and in other parts of the country like Kano, Kaduna, Owerri and Gombe, the story was the same, he added, saying: “The government has again announced the few transport companies chosen to participate in the intervention for which 28 routes have been designated. There are no announced forms of checks and balances to ensure that the transporters follow the terms of the contract.”
He further said that he prayed that it was not another spin to curry favour in the media space after appetising the people as: “The Nigerian people are going through untold hardship and the government must not remain insensitive to their sufferings.”
Further investigation on the 50 per cent fare reduction led us to finding a video online made by a popular transport company, God is Good Motors (GIGM), where commuters are seen applauding the government for the transport fare reduction.
Speaking with a Niger Line driver who wished to remain anonymous, he said, “The president did not buy the buses for us. Therefore, we cannot offer a 50 per cent reduction to commuters.”
Conclusion:
Based on verifiable information, fact-checkers at Daily Trust found that Obi did not commend the president for the 50 per cent reduction as suggested by the Guardian newspaper. The headline was grossly inaccurate and misleading.
