FACT-CHECK: Image of Adeleke’s meeting with Aregbesola in 2023 resurfaces online ahead of Osun governorship poll
By Pascal Ibe
Introduction
Osun State governorship election is in the air and it is just five days away.
The electorate, the Independent National Electoral Commission and the security agencies are preparing for what is shaping up to look like one of the toughest off-cycle elections in the last four years in Nigeria.
Political alignments and realignments have continued to take place between parties and candidates.
But out of the 14 candidates that are seeking to lead the state for the next four years, only three names stand out for their political strength, presence and popularity: incumbent Governor Ademola Adeleke of the Accord Party, Bola Oyebamiji of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and Najeem Salam of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
In the forthcoming election, misinformation is swaying Nigeria’s social media space.
Claim
An image of Governor Adeleke, together with the former Governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola has surfaced online.
The photo is used to claim that the governor has entered into a political alliance with Aregbesola ahead of Saturday’s election.
Aregbesola served as the Minister of the Interior of Nigeria from 2019 to 2023. He previously served as governor of Osun State from 2010 to 2018.
He is currently the interim national secretary of the ADC
An X user, @omoluabi1sq (DGov), posted the image of Adeleke and Aregbesola together and claimed they recently met ahead of the election.
A caption of the image reads, “Adeleke has allegedly reached out to Aregbesola asking for electoral collaboration. Details of the meeting are yet to be made public. #AMBO is finally not coming!!”
A Facebook page, African Democratic Congress UK, posted a screenshot of the claim by @omoluabi1sq and also claimed that “Gov Ademola Adeleke set to collaborate with Aregbesola over Osun elections.”
This claim also appeared here.
Verification
FACTWATCH Nigeria subjected this image of Adeleke and Aregbesola meeting to Google Image Reverse Search, and the results showed that this image was taken when the governor paid a working visit to Aregbesola in March 2023, when he was serving as the interior minister under the late President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
The Osun State Government posted the images from Governor Adeleke’s visit to Aregbesola on its official Instagram page.
See the post here.
During the visit in 2023, Adeleke assured that the MKO Abiola Airport in Ido-Osun would be completed speedily, as all hurdles impeding its completion would soon be removed.
In May of that year, the same photos alongside others were attached to a birthday wish to Aregbesola by Governor Adeleke in a press statement.
Speaking on 8 August at a solidarity rally organised by the ADC in Ejigbo, Osun State, Aregbesola dismissed reports of an alliance between the ADC and any other political party in the state ahead of the August 15 governorship election.
According to TheCable, in a video of the rally which circulated on Monday, the former minister of interior also dismissed reports that Salaam, the party’s governorship candidate, would step down for another candidate in the election.
Verdict
Investigation has shown that the image used to depict the meeting between Adeleke and Aregbesola ahead of the election is from 2023. Therefore, this claim is MISLEADING.
