This is an old photo taken during a blood donation

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An image of a man lying on a chair in a medical setting has been shared hundreds of times in multiple Facebook posts claiming that it shows a politician in Nigeria’s southern Edo state hospitalised after a court removed his party’s national chairman. However, the claim is false; the photo was shot in June 2015 when the politician donated his blood.

Numerous Facebook posts, including this one with more than 500 shares, claim that Osagie Ize-Iyamu, who recently announced his intent to make a second bid for governor in Edo state on the ticket of Nigeria’s ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party, collapsed shortly after a local court confirmed the suspension of the party’s national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole.

A screenshot of one of the false Facebook posts, taken on June 17, 2020

“Ize iyamu colapsed upon hearing that oshomole has been removed… (sic),” the post reads.

Oshiomhole served two terms as governor of Edo state until 2016 when he supported Godwin Obaseki to succeed him under the APC. Obaseki defeated Ize-Iyamu, who was at the time running with the main opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party. Shortly after the poll, Oshiomhole became APC’s national chairman, while Ize-Iyamu defected to the party.

Since then, the relationship between Obaseki and Oshiomhole has soured. Obaseki called for Oshiomhole’s suspension, while Oshiomhole has been rooting for Ize-Iyamu to unseat Obaseki when he comes up for reelection in September 2020.

The comments in the viral post suggest some Facebook users believed the claim that the photo shows Ize-Iyamu receiving medical attention after the court’s order to suspend Oshiomhole, while others were sceptical, even dismissive.

A screenshot taken on June 17, 2020, showing some of the comments

The photo also appears in Facebook posts shared here and here, alongside a similar claim.

An old photo from 2015

But the claim is false. The photo was taken five years ago at an unrelated event.

AFP Fact Check ran reverse image searches and found that another photo of the scene was published by a Twitter user called Otas Julius on June 17, 2015. It says the Edo politician was “donating blood to save lives”.

A keyword search on Twitter for “Ize-Iyamu” and “blood” produced another tweet by the new media director for Ize-Iyamu’s campaign, Tinyan Otuomagie. It was published earlier on the same day, with more photos showing several angles.

AFP Fact Check searched through Ize-Iyamu’s Twitter feed and found a picture of the same scene on June 18, 2015, describing his visit to the Edo state branch of the National Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS).

“As part of activities to mark my birthday, I was at the NBTS with family & friends to give blood to those in need,” Ize-Iyamu tweeted. The event was reported in the Nigerian daily newspaper The Nation. 

Visible features in the claim image such as the clothing, reclining chair, curtain and wall paint match with the photos taken in 2015. 

A screenshot taken on June 17, 2020, showing similarities between the two photos

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