BBC investigation shows Tinubu’s exercise bike video wasn’t old

Bola Tinubu

The BBC Disinformation Unit has confirmed that the viral cycling video shared by the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, on October 2 on social media had not appeared on the internet before.

Tinubu disputed rumour about his death and health, stating that he is still in the race for the presidency.

After the former Lagos governor shared the video, several people on the internet called its authenticity into question – suggesting it was an old video that had been shared in 2021 and earlier this year by representatives of Tinubu.

Other Twitter users used Tinubu’s clothes in the video as evidence that the video is old.

However, while Tinubu was wearing what could be the same clothes, his shoes were different.

The BBC Disinformation Unit, however, said it put the video through INVid – a verification tool. It generated keyframes which were then analysed using Google’s reverse image search.

In-depth analysis of the reverse image search results showed that the video had not appeared on the internet before October 2, 2022.

Tinubu is now back in Nigeria after nearly two weeks in the UK.