FACT-CHECK: Did youths chant “Ole” at Buhari during Lagos rally?

A video showing that President Muhammadu Buhari was booed and greeted with chants of ‘ole’, meaning ‘thief’ in Yoruba language, by youths in Lagos during the APC presidential rally was doctored, a fact-check report by CrossCheck Nigeria, has revealed.

CrossCheck Nigeria, a collaboration of newsrooms in Nigeria which includes Daily Trust, also confirms that though the visual is real and factual, the audio was doctored and imported into it.

The video had been shared across various social media platforms by influencers and online users.

It was posted by Paul Ibe, spokesperson to Atiku Abubakar, PDP presidential candidate, and Reno Omokri at about 04:53 pm and 05:27 pm respectively via their Twitter handles on February 9.

Ibe’s post reads: “This was how youths on Adeniji Adele Road welcomed President Buhari to Lagos: “Ole! Ole!! Ole!!!” For non-Yoruba speaking persons “Ole” means thief in English, “Barawo” in Hausa and “Onye Ohi” in Igbo You may add your own language. #PMBinLagos”

Omokri’s post reads: “WATCH and SHARE: This video is the reason why Bola Tinubu was insulting Obasanjo and @Atiku today at APC’s poorly attended rally. Lagos youths shouted Ole! at President @MBuhari. Lagosians have suffered under Buhari and won’t listen to #TinubuTheAfonja WATCH, COMMEND and SHARE”

An earlier version of the video shared by Jubril A. Gawat on his Twitter handle: @Mr_JAGs revealed that the youths were seen chanting and shouting the popular ‘Sai Baba’ and ‘4plus4’ slogans of the APC in support of the President.

The tweet reads: “Mr President @MBuhari in my area today, Adeniji Adele road, Lagos Island on his way back from the Oba’s Palace .. Boys yapa … No be shere shere .. #PMBinLagos #BuhariIssaGoal”

He posted the video at about 12:28 pm, February 9, which is 4 hours 25 minutes before Ibe shared his own. His post has the traction of 40,000 views, 956 retweets, and 1,886 likes as of 03:25 pm, February 10.

Paul Ibe’s post has since garnered 36,000 views, 757 retweets, and 1,881 likes while Omokri’s post has 31,000 views, 1,208 retweets and 1, 708 likes as of 03:25 pm, February 10.