Video shows Senegalese singer beaten up in Paris, not a government minister
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on July 7, 2023 at 13:14
- 4 min read
- By Monique NGO MAYAG, AFP Senegal, AFP Nigeria
- Translation and adaptation Fikayo OWOEYE
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"Senegal minister collect wotowoto in France from his people," reads a Facebook post published on June 28, 2023.
"Wotowoto" is a popular slang word in Nigeria which means "beaten" or "disgracefully defeated".
The three-minute video shows a small group attacking a man in a blue tunic. His assailants kick him to the ground before several people intervene and allow him to get up.
As the victim walks away, one of his attackers shouts at him in French: "How dare he strike first?"
Others say "Macky Sall, criminal", "Senegalese killer" and "he murders the Senegalese".
The claim also appeared elsewhere on Facebook and Twitter. AFP Fact Check also debunked the story in French.
Macky Sall, 61, is a two-term president of Senegal.
Deadly protests rocked the country in early June after main opposition candidate Ousmane Sonko was sentenced to two years in prison for a sexual offence, making him ineligible to contest the presidential election scheduled for February 2024.
People commenting on the video of the man being attacked in Paris said it showed African youths were holding their leaders accountable.
But the claim that the man in the video was a minister in Sally’s government is false.
Musician, not minister
One of the comments below the post identified the man in the video as Senegalese musician Demba Ndiaye Ndillaan.
An online search for his name led to a clip of a man resembling the assault victim (archive here).
Contacted by AFP Fact Check, Ndillaan confirmed he was the one assaulted in the viral video.
He said he was leaving the Senegalese ambassador’s residence in Paris ahead of a reception for Sall on June 21, 2023, and was heading to Passy metro station, on line 6.
Along with other heads of state, Sall was in France to attend a summit on June 22-23, 2023 (archive here).
Ndillaan said the attack took place on Rue Marietta Alboni.
AFP Fact Check searched online for the coordinates of the Senegalese ambassador’s residence at 23 Rue Vineuse and then those of the Passy metro station.
By plugging the two coordinates into Google Street View, we mapped his route through the streets of the French capital (archived link here). The street where he was attacked is along this route.
Outside 8 rue Marietta Alboni (archived here) -- the location of the attack -- matching landmarks are visible: a streetlamp at the end of the street and the pinnacles of two domes seen in the distance.
Other elements of the viral video seen on the same street on Google Maps include the large black door near twin windows and a green trash can. The architecture of the buildings is also identical in the two images.
Sall supporter
Ndillaan, who has a Mauritanian mother and a Senegalese father, released a song in 2018 which, in his own words, "magnifies the great works carried out by President Macky Sall and his government".
In his interview with AFP Fact Check, he blamed the attack on supporters of Sonko.
Ndillaan said he was not a member of Senegal’s ruling Alliance for the Republic party, but described himself as a fervent admirer of Sall.
Meanwhile, Sall has said he won’t seek a third term as president (archived here).
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