Oluwaseye Ogunsanya
Claim
The presidential candidate of African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore shared an image of an overcrowded classroom on Twitter claiming that it’s from a Nigerian university.
Verdict
Misleading. The image is not from a Nigerian university as claimed by Sowore but FactCheckElections cannot ascertain the origin of the image.
Full text
The presidential candidate of Action Alliance Congress, Omoyele Sowore shared an image of an overcrowded classroom on Twitter claiming that it’s from a Nigerian university.
Accompanying the image, Sowore wrote that it is shameful and unconscionable for anyone to refer to the image as a “classroom”. He further added that the classroom which is in a Nigerian university is poorly lit, dingy and without air conditioning.
It is shameful and unconscionable that anyone refers to this as a “classroom” This is a classroom in a Nigerian university-poorly lit, dingy, without air conditioning- thousands of students being taught by one teacher/lecturer/professor! #WeCantContinueLikeThis #Classsizematters pic.twitter.com/aFtS8WLvrb
— Omoyele Sowore (@YeleSowore) January 24, 2023
Sowore’s tweet has since garnered 245 retweets, 17 quote tweets and 755 likes so far.
FactCheckElections found out from the comment section that the image has also been shared by a former Nigerian Senator, Shehu Sani earlier on the same day with a different caption.
Sani wrote that the image was from a Niger Republic University where law students are having their class. crediting the image to Damagaran Post, a Niger based news platform.
Law Students in a Class room in a Niger Republic University…photo courtesy of Damagaram post. pic.twitter.com/DC8iHmbv4h
— Senator Shehu Sani (@ShehuSani) January 24, 2023
Sani’s tweet has so far garnered 256 retweets, 53 Quote tweets and 2,198 likes.
Verification
In a bid to verify the true source of the image, FactCheckElections did a reverse image search on Google.
The search returned multiple results that could be traced to Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo at first, it also revealed that multiple mediums have made use of the image.
The first was posted by Coordination estudiantine de I’ISS Kin, a page which shares news on events at Institut superieur de statistique de Kinshasa (The Higher Institute of Statistics of Kinshasa, ISS-KIN).
The post which was uploaded on 8th of January showed how populated a class was. The caption reads: “Auditorie L1 LMD lobi Kaka boye 😁😁” meaning L1 LMD auditorium yesterday just like that.
A further search about the institution on its website revealed that it is a multidisciplinary institution and created in 1965 by a Spanish citizen, Mr Luis DE LA TORRE, Doctor of Mathematical Sciences and UNESCO Expert. It offers courses in six major disciplinary fields and trains Statisticians, Documentalists, Commercialists, Transport Managers, quickly operational engineers, particularly adaptable to changes in technology and changes in society.
Another result took us to a humour based page known as Simblanche+234, the image was posted on 9th of January and the caption reads: “Malgré çà y a toujours d’autre gentleman qui sont dehors😂😂😂😂😂 et to benga bino pe étudiant. D’ailleurs c’est quel université même?” meaning despite that there are always other gentlemen outside and you benga bino pe student. Besides, what university is it?
The image was also found on News RDC, a parody account of France24 news related to DR Congo. It was also posted on the 9th of January with the caption “Qui connaît la souffrance d’être étudiant à UNIKIN OU UNILU?” which means, who knows the pain of being a student in UNIKIN or UNILU. This depicts that the image was either from the University of Kinshasa or University of Lubumbashi, DR Congo.
However, the last result was entirely different from the previous ones in terms of location and the day that it was posted. We found out that the image was posted on November 3, 2022 by Remeur de Moroni or Rumor of Moroni, a Comoros based news platform. The platform used the image to announce a new course in the University of Comoros.
The caption reads: “Nouvelles filière à l’université des Comores, désormais des cours de wurombadji sont dispensé a l’université des comores. Les wasafarini des 4 coins de l’ile de ngazidja se sont precipité pour s’inscrire/New course in the University of Comoros, from now on wurombadji classes are offered at the University of Comoros. Wasafarini from the 4 corners of the island of ngazidja rushed to register”
Conclusion
FactCheckElections can conclude that the image is not from a Nigerian university as claimed by Sowore.
Although it has been used by multiple platforms linked to Democratic Republic of Congo mostly as well as Niger Republic and Comoros. FactCheckElections cannot ascertain where it originally originated from.