Video shows luxury cars at home of former Zamfara governor, not Nigeria's suspended bank boss

This article is more than one year old.
Published on June 14, 2023 at 16:41
3 min read
By Fikayo OWOEYE, AFP Nigeria

Nigerian social media users are sharing a video with claims that it shows a fleet of luxury vehicles found at the home of the country’s suspended central bank governor, Godwin Emefiele. But this is false: the video was taken during a raid on the residence of Bello Matawalle, the former governor of Zamfara state in northwest Nigeria, where authorities seized dozens of high-end government-owned vehicles.

“See cars in Emefiele’s house...may God punish this heartless man (sic),” reads a Facebook post published on June 10, 2023.

Emefiele was suspended as governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria by President Bola Tinubu on June 9, 2023 (archived here).

The post has been shared more than 3,000 times and includes a one-minute video showing a property filled with a variety of cars and bulletproof SUVs -- as well as a stretch limousine and an ambulance.

A screenshot showing the false tweet, taken on June 13, 2023

The claim also appeared elsewhere on Facebook, TikTok and Twitter.

Tinubu, in his inauguration speech on May 29, 2023, promised several reforms, including a “thorough housecleaning” of the central bank. Following his suspension, Emefiele was arrested (archived here) in Lagos and taken to Abuja, the nation’s capital, for questioning.

But the claim that the footage shows government vehicles seized in a raid at Emefiele’s home is false.

Matawalle’s mansion

Using the video verification tool InVID-WeVerify to search keyframes from the clip, AFP Fact Check found the original video (archived here) published by local media house Premium Times on their YouTube channel.

According to the caption, the footage was taken during a raid on Matawalle’s residence in Gusau, Zamfara state’s capital.

The clip seen in the false post is about a minute shorter and the logo of the newspaper has been removed. But the cars, some visibly damaged, are identical.

A screenshot showing the same ambulance with the flag of Zamfara in the original video (left) and in the false posts (right)

Matawalle was accused by his successor Dauda Lawal of refusing to return government vehicles (archived here).

Lawal defeated Matawalle in the governorship election and was sworn in as governor on May 29, 2023.

After getting a police order (archived here), security operatives raided Matawalle’s residence and recovered 40 vehicles (archived here), according to reports.

Lawal’s spokesman Sulaiman Bala Idris also confirmed to AFP Fact Check that the video in the false post shows Matawalle’s residence in Gusau.

Zamfara is beset by security troubles and is one of the country's poorest states (archived here), with a poverty rate of 78 percent recorded in 2022, according to figures from the national statistics office.

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