On Wednesday, September 20, 2023, a user on X, Franklin Ekechukwu, posted a picture in reaction to the Nigerian President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu address at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
He accompanied the picture with a caption “Tinubu delivers speech in an empty hall! Nigerians are very unfortunate.”
VERIFICATION
According to a news report by The Guardian, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu arrived in New York for the 78th UNGA on Monday, September 18.
Tinubu delivered his statement at the fifth plenary meeting on Tuesday, September 19, 2023 at the UN General Assembly hall. The shallow U-shape of the Assembly Building is dominated by the Assembly Hall, the biggest room in the Palais which can seat about 2,000 people.
However, the X user shared a picture of the hall stating that Nigeria’s president delivered his speech in an empty hall. To verify the image posted, the researcher conducted a Reverse Image Search using reverse.photos, which revealed that the same picture had been posted by NairaLand and another website, providing a clearer view of people in the hall while President Tinubu was delivering his speech.
More so, a video posted by the United Nations on Youtube revealed that the hall was not empty while President Tinubu was giving his speech as claimed by Franklin in his tweet. The video showed the UNGA president, Dennis Francis; Heads of state and government; and Secretary-General, António Guterres in attendance, along with delegates from Denmark, Colombia, Ghana, Guyana and others.
Also, various Nigerian governors and senior government officials were present at the event, as listed in the report. Snapshots captured from the video posted by the UN on its channel and Channels TV showed these Nigerian officials and other delegates present during Tinubu’s statement.
Furthermore, Photos covering the General Assembly meetings and events shows that President Tinubu delivered his address in the same room with other presidents and delegates who attended the conference.
CONCLUSION
The claim that President Tinubu delivered his speech in an empty hall is FALSE as multiple reports, pictures and video showed people in the hall during his presentation.
