Verdict: Misleading
 
A video has resurfaced on social media showing President Bola Tinubu giving assurances to use his presidential power to win the forthcoming off-cycle Edo state gubernatorial election for his political party, the All Progressives Congress.
 
In the 58 seconds viral video, which surfaced recently across social platforms,  President Tinubu was seen speaking before some leaders of the APC, including the former governor of Edo State, Senator Adams Oshiomole, and the current vice president, Kashim Shettima, as the spectators hailed him. The president thereby promised them that he would reclaim the state for the APC when he became president of the country and make the state as beautiful as Lagos state
 
He said, “You know me well, you know Adam Oshiomole well, we are still going to fight further, don’t worry, we are with you, you will not walk alone.  One thing I can assure you is this: Do you want Edo back? As the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I will give Edo back to you. Edo will turn into a beautiful, if not more beautiful, and will be equal to Lagos. Be assured of that. Good night.”
 

Reacting to the video with a caption, an X (formerly Twitter) user, A+A  described the purported video as “Impunity of the highest order.  As the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I will give Edo to you.” The irony is, that the deed is already done. APC will never stop until Nigerians resist. It’s a natural thing. They have no incentive to stop.”

Similarly, the video was also broadcast on WhatsApp with a caption that insinuated that President Tinubu has already aired his intention to rig the forthcoming off-cycle governorship election in September for his party, adding that the outcome of the poll has already been determined before the activity.

WhatsAPP broadcast message captioned with the video

Edo state Off-cycle Governorship Election

Edo State is one of the eight states where off-cycle elections are held in Nigeria; a development that began in the country following a judicial pronouncement of questionable conduct in the 2003 governorship election in Anambra State. Similar developments later came up in Ekiti, Ondo, Edo, Osun, Bayelsa, Imo, and Kogi states, based on the date picked for the conduct of elections in the states.

 
The Edo governorship election, is being keenly contested among the major political parties in the country. The incumbent governor, Godwin Obaseki of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), is believed to be supporting Asue Ighodalo. While the central ruling party, the All-Progressives Congress (APC), has Monday Okpebholo, a senator from Edo Central, as its candidate. The Labour Party has elected Mr. Olumide Akpata, former president of the Nigeria Bar Association.
 

 Tinubu’s Video  on Obaseki in 202o

In 2020, ahead of the off-cycle election, President Bola  Tinubu, then the national leader of the All Progressives Congress, made a 4:53 video broadcast in the week of the last governorship election in the state, calling on the Edo people to ignore Godwin Obaseki at the ballot and vote for Ize Iyamu of his party.

 
The video achieved the exact opposite of his intention, as it triggered repulsive reactions from the Edo people, who responded with ‘Edo no be Lagos mantra to protest against Tinubu’s video, leading to Obaseki’s victory.
 
Due to these events in the past election, the purported video tends to reshape the electorates’ perspective about the credibility of the September 21, 2024, elections. Also, the virality of the video can create trust deficits in the electoral body as the claim may further create tensions ahead of the poll.

Consequently, the build up of these past events nudged the NDR to check the factuality of the video and to determine the veracity of the claim that President Tinubu said he would use his capacity as a president to rig the Edo off-cycle election for APC.

Verification

 
To verify the purported claim, which suggests that President Tinubu planned to use his presidential power to rig the Edo state, gubernatorial election for his party, NDR subjected the video to a reverse image search and keyframe analysis on InVID, a video verification and found that the video was first posted in 2022 before the 2023 general elections when he was elected to office.

 
In the result we got from the search, a complete video for the event was posted in May, 2022, as President Bola Tinubu was canvassing APC delegates of the All Progressives Congress ahead of the party presidential primary election that was later  held in June, 2022
 
 
According to the video, President Tinubu promised the audience to make Edo state as beautiful as Lagos state.
 
To corroborate our findings, further investigation led us to a report published by TheCable Newspaper, an online media platform in Nigeria on May 21st, 2022 with the headline “Tinubu: If I am elected president, Edo will become as beautiful as Lagos”.
 
Conclusion
 
The viral video claiming Tinubu has vowed to use his presidential power to win the upcoming off-cycle Edo state gubernatorial election for his political party, the All Progressives Congress, was posted in 2022 before he was elected president. Therefore, the claim is Misleading