FACT CHECK: Were cows, plots of land donated to Obi’s campaign by herder?

A Facebook post, claims that 50 cows and three plots of land in Kaduna, were donated to Peter Obi’s presidential campaign, by a northern herder.

“Just in: Hausa man “Danladi” donates 50 cows and 3 plots of land in Kaduna for Peter Obi’s presidential campaign,” reads the caption of the Facebook post.

The post was accompanied by a photo collage which has two different pictures.

On the left, is one of the pictures, which shows white cows in a forest. On the right,  another picture shows a mixture of brown and white cows in green vegetation. 

Also, a light-complexioned man can be seen in the picture on the right. 

“I feel secure and protected with Igbo man been the president of Nigeria,” reads the concluding caption of the Facebook post, attributed to ‘Danladi’, the light-complexioned man in the picture.

The post was shared on July 12 on a Facebook page named Obidient, where it gathered over 3,000 likes, 618 comments and 783 shares. 

The post also appeared on several other Facebook pages.

“I’m feeling emotional right now. God has done it for this country,” reads a comment from an unsuspecting Facebook user.

Verification

Using Yandex, a digital tool used to discover the source of a picture and visually similar images from the web, multiple reverse image searches of the photo of the man referred to as ‘Danladi’ in the post, showed that the picture has been on the internet as early as March 2021. 

The result showed that the image was posted on the website of the Daily Trust newspaper on March 20, 2021, in a news report headlined: “Dauda, From Rearing Cattle To A University Lecturer”

Who is Adamu Dauda?

The Daily Trust report revealed the identity of the man in the Facebook post as Adamu Dauda Garba, not Danladi as the post claimed.

The report narrated how Adamu, born on October 10, 1985, started out as a cattle rearer in Taraba at 6, and how he combined education with cattle rearing. 

In 2009, he obtained a National Certificate of Education (NCE) from Taraba state college of education, Jalingo.

“After my studies at college of education, l was told that federal university, Wukari, was recruiting security guards and l decided to apply and luckily l was employed,” he said in the report.

After working as a guard at the university for 4 years,  he later gained admission to study sociology at the same university –  where he was eventually employed as a graduate assistant upon graduation.

Adamu’s reaction to false publication

A Twitter search revealed Adamu’s account, which is temporarily restricted. 

A check through his timeline showed a tweet where he reacted to the claim.

In the tweet, he said: “For the purpose of clrearity I am Adamu Dauda Garba from Taraba State. I did not in any way approve the the use of my picture on their website for the said fake news. General public therefore advise to disregard this fake news an also wait for the outcome of the case in court.”

https://twitter.com/ADAMUDaudaGarb2/status/1546909972239368192?s=20&t=PnPHyOrCtnQdEu9GlqxW4g

Verdict

Analysis shows that the true identity of the man referred to as ‘Danladi’ in the post is Adamu Garba. He neither donated 50 cows nor 3 plots of land in Kaduna to Peter Obi’s presidential campaign. The claim is false.