The rumoured death and the subsequent obituary announcement for Daniel Bwala, an aide to President Bola Tinubu, have been trending on X since Friday.
AI-generated images of Bwala, the special adviser to the president on Policy Communications, continue to trend on the X platform on Sunday after his earlier post, which seemed to have maligned the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress, Peter Obi and his supporters (the Obidients).
How it began
Bwala had on Friday evening shared on X, an AI-generated image of Obi posing with a prop trap, with a caption that sent a direct message of ridicule to the former Anambra State governor and his supporters.
Bwala claimed in the post that “there is a silent political civil war going on in the Obidient camp.”
According to the Tinubu aide, “the realization that it is not a political movement but a hate, vitriol and unpatriotic movement. They hate the country they want to govern, you only need to hear them discrediting Nigeria, Nigerians and Nigerian leaders.”
“Their members are beginning to see through the lenses. They are abandoning the so-called movement. Gbajue Gbajue Gbajue,” the post added.
The post, which has already garnered over 1 million views as of Sunday evening, sparked outrage and anger among the Obi supporters.
Reacting to the post on Saturday, Ugo Egbujuo, a popular columnist and social media influencer, condemned the post by Bwala.
Egbujuo hoped that when opposition “post Tinubu hung on a tree, the DSS won’t find it offensive.”
He labelled the post by the presidential aide as a “stupid and irresponsible tweet”.
Here comes the response
But hours after Bwala’s post, the Obidients charged and began a fierce response, which led to the FALSE death announcement of Tinubu’s aide.
In many posts, Obi supporters published AI-generated images of Bwala in a coffin with a “rest in peace ” caption.
Other posts on X by Obi supporters showed AI-generated photos maligning Bwala, which were accompanied by insulting captions.
@aussiechicng (Ariel Obi !.|MSC, EdD) posted the black and white photo of the presidential aide which symbolises his alleged passing and wrote, “Breaking: Daniel Bwala is gone!! He is no longer a living person… right before he passed, his credibility officially flatlined. Cause of death: liver cancer and terminal inconsistency with chronic political shape-shifting. RIP u fffffff Dan iska.”
Another X user, Harry Da Diegot shared an image which depicts an obituary announcement for the Bwala.
See other similar posts here and here.
Just a claim, no truth
However, checks on the X account of Bwala indicated that new posts were made on his page since the online war he had with Obi supporters.
This is an indicator that Tinubu’s aide is alive and that the FALSE obituary announcements on the X platform were in response to the post he made about Obi and the Obidients.
