Old video showing room full of cash is unrelated to ruling party’s primary election in Nigeria

The video started circulating online on May 30, 2022, after the APC started screening individuals hoping to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari under the ruling party’s banner. 

The screening exercise preceded a national convention scheduled for June 6, 2022, during which an in-house primary election will determine the party’s candidate for next year’s presidential poll.

“APC getting ready for convention,” reads a tweet that features the silent footage. “It's gonna be dollar rain (sic).”

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Screenshot showing the false tweet, taken on May 31, 2022

More than 70,000 people have seen the 27-second clip on the social network. It was also shared on Facebook by accounts promoting the activities of the Biafran and Yoruba Nation separatist groups. 

Popular Nigerian entertainer Tunde Ednut, who has nearly four million followers on Instagram, also shared the footage on the social network alongside a similar claim.

Nigeria holds elections next year to determine Buhari’s successor, as well as lawmakers and governors for the majority of the country’s 36 states. 

Some Nigerians, including former president Goodluck Jonathan, have accused political aspirants of offering money to delegates in a bid to influence the outcomes of primary elections.

However, the video showing piles of cash being taken out of a suitcase is unrelated to elections in Nigeria. 

Old video from Sudan

Nine seconds into the video, the words “Central Bank of Sudan” are visible on a white note placed on one of the bundles of cash.

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Screenshot showing the “Central Bank of Sudan” note

Using the InVID-WeVerify tool, AFP Fact Check ran several reverse image searches on keyframes from the video. 

This helped us trace the footage back to an earlier version of the video published on YouTube more than three years ago, on April 17, 2019. 

The video’s caption, in Swahili, reads: “See the money that ousted [Sudanese] president Omar Bashir was caught with”.

Unlike the version currently circulating in Nigeria, this video included sound. A woman’s voice can be heard.

The sound is not very clear, but AFP journalists in Sudan were able to confirm that the voice was speaking in Arabic and saying something about “documenting”. Arabic is the dominant language of Sudan.

On April 20, 2019, three days after this video was first published on YouTube, Sudan-based news outlet Sudan In The News published a shorter version of the video, also alleging that it showed cash found at the residence of Sudan’s former leader Omar al-Bashir.

AFP reported on the cash seizure in April 2019. Sudan’s security forces found more than 113 million dollars worth of cash in three currencies during a search at the former Sudanese leader’s home.

Bashir’s three decades of iron-fisted rule came to an end in April 2019 when he was ousted by the army following months of protests against him. The 75-year-old was sent to prison after the military took over.