Post falsely claims Nigerian singer Tekno collapsed on tour in South Africa

Published on August 26, 2024 at 10:33
5 min read
By Samad UTHMAN, AFP Nigeria

Multiple social media posts recently claimed that a video shows Nigerian Afrobeat singer Tekno after he collapsed during a tour in South Africa. However, the claim is false: the person seen receiving aid in the two-month-old clip is veteran Kenyan rapper Prezzo, who wrote about the medical incident on Instagram. Tekno also confirmed he was not the one who collapsed.

“Tekno's collapse while presenting in South Africa highlights the pressures faced in the music industry and the fact that no one is above illnesses and bad. The cause remains unknown. Get well soon Tekno (sic),” reads an X post published on August 20, 2024.

Screenshot showing the false post, taken August, 21, 2024

The post includes a video and a separate picture of popular Nigerian Afrobeat star Tekno, whose real name is Augustine Miles Kelechi.

The clip shows a group of people helping an individual who appears to be unconscious.

Many of the users commenting on the post appeared to believe that the man in the video was Tekno and wished him a quick recovery.

Screenshot showing the comments under the false post, taken August 22, 2024

The post was published by an account called “Joshua Olusegun” — a self-described social media influencer with fewer than 4,000 followers. Much of the account features random football and lifestyle content.

The allegation about Tekno was also shared elsewhere on Facebook (including here, here and here) and on X (here, here and here).

However, the claim is false.

Kenyan performer

AFP Fact Check traced the origin of the clip to a small Nigerian TikTok news account called “Njenje media” — the same name as the handle in the video (archived here).

Using the InVID-WeVerify tool, we extracted keyframes from the clip and conducted reverse image searches.

One of the results led to a YouTube video posted on June 7, 2024, with the caption “Veteran Rapper Prezzo CMB collapsed at Bahati and Diana reality show launch” (archived here).

An Internet search using the keyword “Prezzo+collapse” showed several media platforms reported on the incident.

Articles said Jackson Ngechu Makini, the veteran Kenyan rapper known as Prezzo, reportedly fainted on the night of June 6, 2024, shortly after arriving at the official launch of a Netflix reality TV series titled “The Bahati’s Empire” in Nairobi (archived here).

Prezzo wrote about his episode on his official Instagram account, saying it came as a result of “overworking” himself which led to “fatigue” (archived here).

An analysis of Tekno’s Instagram feed showed that he was in Equatorial Guinea’s capital Malabo when the false posts claimed he was touring in South Africa (archived here).

As news of his alleged “collapse” went viral, Tekno published a post on August 21 saying he was “hale and hearty and not currently in South Africa” (archived here).

“I hope whoever that was in the video is doing well and ok,” he added.

AFP Fact Check found that the image of Tekno on his haunches, seen alongside the video of Prezzo in one of the false posts, was uploaded to Instagram on April 30, 2024 (archived here).

Tekno posted the image with two other pictures showing him on the set of a music video shoot.

AFP Fact Check has contacted Tekno for comment and will update this story accordingly.

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