Nigeria elections 2023

Chicago concert image falsely linked to Nigerian ruling party’s election rally

  • This article is more than one year old.
  • Published on February 15, 2023 at 14:44
  • 3 min read
  • By Fikayo OWOEYE, AFP Nigeria

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With the Nigerian presidential election less than two weeks away, political parties are adding the final touches to their campaigns and rallying supporters around the country. A set of images was posted online by the campaign spokesperson for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) purportedly showing a mammoth crowd at a party rally in Sokoto state in northwest Nigeria. However, AFP Fact Check found that one of the pictures is from the 2021 “Lollapalooza” music concert in Chicago in the United States. The other pictures were taken at the Sokoto rally.

Festus Keyamo, the APC’s campaign committee spokesperson whose Twitter account has more than 970,000 followers, tweeted four pictures on February 9, 2023 – the same day as the rally.

A screenshot showing the misleading post, taken on February 13, 2023 ( Fikayo OWOEYE)

“More pictures from the mother of all rallies in Sokoto!” he wrote. “The signs are all there for all to see! But they are playing! Make dem dey play!! In about a forth-night, the jungle will mature!! (sic).”

The tweet has received more than 3,400 likes and 640 retweets.

The post was also shared elsewhere on Twitter and Facebook.

APC presidential candidate Bola Tinubu is one of 18 candidates hoping to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari after voters go to the polls on February 25, 2023.

Tinubu, 70, visited Sokoto state for a campaign rally on February 9, 2023. He was joined by Buhari as well as other party members and supporters.

Chicago music festival

AFP Fact Check conducted reverse image searches and found that one of the photos shows crowds at the 2021 edition of the Lollapalooza music festival, which was held from July 29 to August 1, 2021, in Chicago.

Lollapalooza is an annual four-day music festival held in Grant Park in Chicago. The photo was taken by Colin Hinkle from the balcony of his apartment on the 52nd floor of the building facing Grant Park.

At the time, Hinkle shared the picture on Twitter.

The 2021 festival generated controversy after the picture revealed a tightly-packed sea of concert goers wearing no masks despite the Covid-19 restrictions that were in place.

AFP Fact Check compared the image posted by Keyamo to the original taken by Hinkle and zoomed in to match various elements. These include a large whitish cube, someone wearing a sky-blue shirt resting on a barrier, and a person with a distinctive red and orange shirt.

Similarities between the original photo (left) and the photo used in the misleading post (right)

The other pictures, which show Buhari holding the hands of Tinubu and party supporters with the flag of the APC on display, are from the Sokoto rally. The pictures were shared via Tinubu’s verified Twitter account.

Disinformation has dogged campaigning ahead of the polls. You can find AFP Fact Check's election-related coverage here.

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