By Pascal Ibe
Introduction
Headline inflation in Nigeria stood at 15.43% in July 2026 (down from higher peaks earlier in the year), though food inflation remains high at 19.6% as households continue to face a severe cost-of-living crisis.
While official headline figures have eased compared to previous highs, families continue to struggle with high prices for food, fuel, transportation, and rent.
For an ordinary Nigerian, the economic growth and reforms by the President Bola Tinubu administration are only on paper; they do not reflect realities on the ground, as hardship persists.
Claim
A video clip which claims to show Asari Dokubo asking President Tinubu to step down over the severe hardship faced by Nigerians has surfaced online.
Asari Dokubo is a traditional ruler in Rivers State, Nigeria’s South-south, and a former militant leader in the Niger Delta.
A Nigerian social media influencer, Charles Oputa, also known as “CharlyBoy”, who shared (archived here) the video on Sunday 10 October, captioned it, “Asari say make Tinubu surrender. Say country too hard. Bulaba never renew him subscription”
The post has since generated over 293,000 views and thousands of likes, according to the analytics.
Amplifying this further, an online Nigerian newspaper, DailyPost, reported (archived here) that the video is true.
Verification
First, FACTWATCH Nigeria watched the video thoroughly and found out that the man in the video is much fatter than Dokubo, although they look alike.
But to ascertain who the person in the video was, we subjected keyframes from the clip to an image/identity detection website, Pineeye; the results led us to the exact image of the man, who was identified by a People Search Engine website, Webmii, as the traditional ruler of the Amadabo of Moko-Ama in Bayelsa State’s Akassa Kingdom.
Scrolling down through Webmii, we found a Facebook page with the exact image of the traditional ruler and his name.
FACTWATCH Nigeria further searched the Facebook page and discovered the video of the monarch asking Tinubu to step down over hardship, which was posted on 25 March. This is the video Charlyboy claimed to have come from Asari Dokubo.
The video was also published on other social media platforms in March here and here.
We understand that the video surfaced online recently because of the rumoured death of the monarch.
Some news websites have published stories about his alleged death here and here.
But at the moment, FACTWATCH Nigeria could not independently confirm whether this is true or not, as no credible news organisation in Nigeria or authorised sources have yet made any announcement of it.
Verdict
After a thorough investigation by FACTWATCH Nigeria, we can confirm that the person in the video clip is not Asari Dokubo, but Theophilus Moses, the traditional ruler in Bayelsa State.
CharlyBoy wrongly linked the video to the former Niger Delta militant leader. Therefore, the claim is FALSE.
