Shereefdeen Ahmad
A Twitter user, @DalapFlourish claimed that a 19-year-old boy from Plateau state committed a suicide after Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of Labour Party(LP) lost the Nigerian presidential election held on 25th February.
Recall that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Asijwau Ahmed Bola Tinubu, the candidate of All Progressive Congress(APC) as the winner of the Saturday’s polls, beating People Democratic Party’s Atiku Abubakar who became second and LP’s Peter Obi, who emerged third.
The post showed an image of the boy’s corpse dangling with a rope on his neck in an uncompleted building, which deed established that he died in a suicide like manner.
The twitter user with a username ‘Peter obi’s kidney ❤❤❤PI, also claimed that the boy left a note behind stating Nigeria would have no hope in the next 20 years after the Obi’s presidential bid.
“SAD NEWS: I will tell God INEC killed me, Young Boy from Plateau state commit suicide and dies after Obi lost a rigged election.
The 19 years old boy left a short note behind which reads “ no hope for Nigeria for the next 20 years after Obi lost the election, #RejectTinubu,”the caption reads.
The post, published on 3rd March, gathered 50 retweets and over 50 likes as of the time of filing this report.
@DalapFlourish_in another post attached to the previous one_aslo claimed that the boy was part of the people who protested over ensuring that Peter Obi wins the 2023 presidential election.
“I would rather end it now than to live in a hell called Nigeria”. The small boy was part of the people that protested in the sun and rain to market Obi, but got disappointed by INEC that rigged the Election in the favor of Tinubu. Please is not an option #RejectTinu,” the twitter account tweeted to its over 2000 followers.
This reporter also found out that some news blogs have used the image and attributed the same claim to it as seen here and here.
Verification
Using tools like Duplicate Checker and Yandex, this reporter found out that the image has been on the internet since 2016.
The image was used by TalkGlitz Media, a news media website to publish a report on 25th December 2016 about one 26-year-old boy purported to be a Yahoo boy with the nickname Chino who committed a suicide in Warri, Delta state.
“A 26 year old Yahoo boy by nickname chino was said to have committed suicide in Warri yesterday. Residents of the area said they woke up this morning to see his dangling corpse,”the post reads in part.
Also, another news outlet, URHOBO TODAY used the image on 26th December 2016 with the same claim as that of TalkGlitz Media.
Therefore, the same image could not have been attributed to a suicide case of a 19-year-old boy in the just concluded 2023 Nigerian presidential election.
Verdict
The viral image purportedly attributed to a 19-year-old teenager from Plateau state alleged to have committed a suicide following Peter Obi’s presidential election lost has long been used since 2016, and he is not related to Obi’s 2023 Nigerian presidential election saga.
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