By Pascal Ibe

Claim

A music star and social media influencer, Charlyboy, claimed that the son of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), became the first child ever to win English, Mathematics, and Russian Language in an international world brain competition.

Verdict

This claim is FALSE. Findings by FACTWATCH Nigeria indicated that the image used to depict Nnamdi Kanu’s son was a Namibian actor, Alejandro Cooper, 12, recognised as the best younger African actor at the Sotigui Awards held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, in November 2024.

Full Text

Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, was first arrested in 2015 under the administration of late President Muhammadu Buhari.

IPOB is a group leading agitation for an independent state of Biafra which it wants carved out from the South-east and some parts of the South-south Nigeria.

Until his arrest and detention, Nnamdi Kanu and his wife, Uchechi Okwu-Kanu, had a son.

However, he and his wife prefer not to name their son publicly for privacy reasons.

A music star and social media influencer, Charles Oputa, popularly known as Charly Boy, has claimed that the son of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), became the first child ever to win English, Mathematics, and Russian Language in an international world brain competition.

In a post on the X platform, Charly boy shared an image of a young boy with an award and wrote, “Breaking News: Nnamdi Kanu’s son has shocked the world by becoming the first child ever to win English, Mathematics, and Russian Language in an international world brain competition.

“The 11-year-old prodigy outshined the United Kingdom in their very own language, emerging as the champion. He went further to defeat some of the world’s strongest young minds, proving his brilliance on the global stage.

“This historic victory has not only placed him in the spotlight but also written his name in the record books as one of the most gifted children of his generation.

The post garnered 897k views with thousands of reactions and reposts.

FACTWATCH Nigeria observed that this claim was also on the X platform here and here.

Verifying this claim

FACTWATCH Nigeria used Google Lens for this fact check.

When we subjected the photo of the boy attached to the claim, to Google Lens, the results showed that the image used to depict Nnamdi Kanu’s son was a Namibian actor, Alejandro Cooper, 12, recognised as the best younger African actor at the Sotigui Awards held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, in November 2024.

In a report by an online newspaper, the Namibian Economist, Cooper, who plays young ‘Lukas’ in Dr Philippe Talavera’s film ‘Lukas’, scooped Namibia’s first Best Youngest African Actor.

Cooper, who was up against the best of the African cinema thanked his director, the cast and crew of ‘Lukas’ for their support and dedicated the award to all the homeless children in Africa, saying, “Your stories matter. Your lives matter.”

He further expressed gratitude to the Sotigui Academy for recognising young actors as they can become the future actors of the continent.

“I feel proud of myself today and I hope this will open doors for me. I want to focus on my studies of course, but I would like to continue acting. Thank you to the Sotigui Awards for supporting me,’ he added.

This is the first time a Namibian actor has won this category, although Adriano Visagie brought home the Sotigui Award for Best Southern Africa actor in 2019 for his role in one of Talavera’s films ‘Salute!’.

Talavera, who attended the ceremony said he felt proud when Alejandro’s name was called, saying that he deserved this achievement as he worked very hard for it and tackled a difficult role.

“Namibia has talent,” said Talavera. “Unfortunately, we do not often enough acknowledge the talent we have. We have a small film industry and yet often time politics among ourselves prevent us from moving forward. But I am optimistic, we have actors who can compete internationally. Cooper won not as the best youngest Namibian actor but as the best youngest African actor. The rest of the world will now look at us. We have to keep nurturing our talents.”

The Ombetja Yehinga Organisation noted that Cooper and Talavera could attend the ceremony thanks to support from the German Embassy and the Namibian Film Commission.

See other news organisations that reported this story in 2024 here and here

Conclusion

The photo used to depict Nnamdi Kanu’s son breaking a record in a world brain competition was a deliberate attempt to mislead the public.