Post falsely claims video shows senator pledging support for Nigerian separatists

This article is more than one year old.
Published on June 14, 2023 at 13:29
2 min read
By Tonye BAKARE, AFP Nigeria

The secessionist movements in Nigeria’s southeast region have spun many false claims on social media, including one that a video shows Senator Orji Uzor Kalu from Abia state vowing to push for a referendum on the region's independence. But the claim is false: in the video, Kalu talks about the need for unity in Nigeria.

“Orji-Uzo Kalu To Join Mazi Nnamdi Kanu For Biafra Referendum Cries As Tinubu Deny Him Senate Presidency (sic),” reads a Facebook post published on June 11, 2023.

A screenshot showing the false post, taken on June 12, 2023

The 13-minute video includes footage from a Nigerian senate plenary, pictures of Kalu and Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, as well as voiceovers from a narrator. The plenary footage shows Kalu speaking.

The video was also posted on YouTube and opens with a line of text reading “Nigeria is against Igbos, I will join MNK & Biafra freedom”. “MNK” refers to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the separatist group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

The group wants independence in Nigeria’s southeast region, and its supporters regularly resort to disinformation in their campaigns. Numerous false claims have been debunked by AFP Fact Check.

In November 2021, Kalu had advised Kanu to forgo his calls to secede after visiting the IPOB leader in detention (archived here).

Kalu is currently vying for the senate presidency, defying the ruling All Progressives Congress party’s preference for Godswill Akpabio (archived here).

However, the claim that Kalu declared allegiance to IPOB because the APC overlooked him in the contest for the senate presidency is false.

Pro-Nigeria sentiments

A search using the keywords “Orji Kalu Senate” led to a video published by local broadcaster African Independent Television (AIT) on YouTube on June 10, 2023.

The logo and news ticker on the clip show that it was the same footage used in the false post.

Screenshots show matching elements in the video shared in the false claim and the one published by African Independent Television

In the video, Kalu talks (archived here) about how some of his colleagues in the Senate supported him when he was convicted of corruption in 2019 (archived here).

He also claims, while sobbing, that he was set up by the same people he had helped in the past.

A longer version of Kalu’s speech published on YouTube by a channel called “FaceTv Africa” shows him expressing his support for Nigeria's unity (archived here).

“Coming here has given me a lot of latitudes to understand Nigeria better; to understand what we stand for better; to fight more for a united Nigeria,” he says.

None of the videos contains any reference to Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu or a referendum.

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