Okediran Adeyemi
On Wednesday, December 8, 2021, a Twitter user with the name Frank Justice with the username, @Talk2_Frankjay, tweeted a picture claiming former Ogun state governor, Gbenga Daniel was the one holding a kettle of water in a viral picture of Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka.
The tweet read: “That is Wole Soyinka seated after his release from Prison in 1969. The boy holding a kettle of water beside him is Gbenga Daniel…. who later became Ogun State Governor.”
“That you have served someone or serving someone today will not prevent you from becoming what you will BECOME in life. “LOYALTY IS A VIRTUE”
As of the time of fact-checking this claim, the tweet has generated 131 comments from different handles, 126 quote tweets, 307 retweets, and 937 likes. However, the user has deleted this tweet.
CLAIM
N-VA extracted the claim, “Former Governor, Gbenga Daniel Appeared in a Picture With Wole Soyinka in 1969” and went on to fact-check and verify its authenticity.
POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE CLAIM
Gbenga Daniel (born 6 April 1956) is a Nigerian politician and Governor of Ogun State of Nigeria from 29 May 2003 to 29 May 2011. Meanwhile, Professor Wole Soyinka is the first African Nobel laureate winner and hails from Ogun state too. This makes it crucial to verify the claim made in the tweet.
VERIFICATION
According to a tool, TinEye, use in searching for images online, it was revealed that the picture first makes its first appearance on social media on October 5, 2018.
The picture was posted alongside another picture on Nairaland which was extracted from a tweet made by Tomiwa Ilori on June 3, 2018, with the caption, “ Odds are high you haven’t seen this image of Wole Soyinka living the life of a ‘Guerrilla’ boss.
Is it Gbenga Daniel that was behind Wole Soyinka in the viral picture?
However, one of the sons of Gbenga Daniel, Debola Daniel has debunked the claim as false by quote tweeting the initial claim that “People just lie unprovoked.
They don’t even try to mislead. They just lie. That is not my daddy o”.
CONCLUSION
The claim that “Former Governor, Gbenga Daniel Appeared in a Picture With Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka in 1969” is FALSE.
