A Nigerian blog, Gist Reel, has made a claim on its Twitter account, with over 350,000 followers, suggesting that the picture of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was substituted with that of the party’s vice presidential candidate, Kashim Shettima, as the party’s presidential candidate during a news transmission on the Cable Network News (CNN) recently.
The post had an embedded CNN logo and a scrollbar under, depicting the picture was taken while the news was being transmitted live.
Daily Trust observed that former vice president Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso were displayed as candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP) and New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) respectively. The photo has gone viral as it was shared by other blogs and individuals online.
Verification
An investigation by Daily Trust revealed that the image on the post was photoshopped.
A Google reverse image search also revealed that the image first appeared on the internet even before the official presidential list was released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Further checks by Daily Trust showed that CNN did not transmit the said news or made any exclusion; there was nothing of such in their official website or verified accounts on social media.
Conclusion
Daily Trust can confirm that the claim made through a Twitter post suggesting that CNN has excluded the picture of Bola Ahmed Tinubu from the list of presidential candidates of Nigeria is false.