FACT CHECK: Did Matawalle bury luxury cars in secret underground tunnels?

A viral photo on social media has alleged that Bello Matawalle, former governor of Zamfara, buried cars underground.

According to the photo’s caption, the cars which Matawalle — now minister of state for defence — allegedly buried were brand new vehicles.

“O! Cry for our people and country!” the caption reads.

“Fleet of brand new vehicles bought and secretly buried in underground tunnels by ex-Governor Matawalle of Zamfara State. Why is the Black race this heartless?”

In the photo, cars which appear to be sport utility vehicles (SUVs) can be seen buried in the ground and covered with sand.

The picture, which was widely shared on WhatsApp, also appeared on an X page belonging to VANPDP, a self-acclaimed support group of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

According to the page, the vehicles were “Discovered and seized from Ex-Gov of Zamfara state, your current Minister of State for Defence”.

Since the post was made on December 14, it has so far gathered over 170k views, 598 likes, 428 retweets, and 374 likes.

“He must be prosecuted for stealing,” reads a comment from Emmanuel Enoidem, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and former national legal adviser to the PDP.

The claims also surfaced on TikTok on a page named awakeningafrica1 where it gathered over 811k views, 12.2k likes, 739 saves, 469 comments, and 353 shares.

But how true are the viral claims that the minister buried a fleet of cars underground?

Discovered and sized from Ex-Gov of Zamfara state, your current Minister of State for Defence. pic.twitter.com/o4ckB0vDi4

— VANPDP (@VANPDPNg) December 14, 2023

VERIFICATION

Subjecting the viral photo to a reverse image search, TheCable found that it was posted about three weeks before it began circulating on social media in Nigeria. 

“Look at what forces of IEA discover in Balkh Province,” an X post made on November 23 said.

Balkh is a province in northern Afghanistan, a country in south-central Asia. The Taliban militant group regained control of the country in 2021 and declared it the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA).

Another Reddit post also said the vehicles were “buried by former corrupt Afghan politicians before leaving Afghanistan”.

An internet crawl showed that reports dated December 4 said after Matawalle lost his reelection bid, he allegedly took over 50 state vehicles with him.

Dauda Lawal, governor of Zamfara, also accused Matawalle, his predecessor, of being in the custody of state official vehicles.

However, there have been no credible media reports of cars buried in Zamfara or anywhere in Nigeria — while there is also none to verify that the cars were found in Afghanistan either.

VERDICT

The claim saying Matawalle buried a fleet of cars underground is unproven as there is no concrete evidence to support it.