Claim: Uzodinma Declared Free Marriages Between Between Fulani Settlers and Imo Ladies Resurfaces.
Verdict: False and misleading. Both Thisday Newspaper and the Imo state government debunked the claim, which has been online since 2021 as fake.
By Arinze Chijioke
On September 30th, 2024- a day before Nigeria’s 64th Independence Day celebration—at exactly 11:11 pm, an X user identified as Nononsense—with over 18.3k followers—made a post in which he claimed that the governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodinma, has declared free marriages between Fulani Settlers and Imo Ladies.
“Breaking: Big celebration across the whole of Igbo land as their governors declare free marriage between Fulanis and Igbos. Chidi, Emeka, Chisom, and Amarachi are jubilant as the first Fulani-Igbo wedding kicks off in Imo state. Nigerians, please join us in wishing them a happy married life!” @NoNonsensezone wrote in his post.
The tweet by @NoNonsensezone.
The post was accompanied by a screenshot of what appeared to be the 27 August 2021 edition of Nigeria’s ThisDay newspaper, ThisDay, one of Nigeria’s Newspaper Publications with a front page headline that reads “Shocking: Uzodinma declares free marriage between Fulani Settlers and Imo Ladies,” and “Promises to pay the bride price for herdsmen who choose to marry Imo ladies. “Imposes N1 million fine to any father who refuses to give consent,” as riders.
The screenshot, which Nononsense appeared to have also screen grabbed from another X user, Emeka Gift Official, was also accompanied by two videos showing young men and women singing and dancing.
At the time of this report, the claim had garnered well 35.7k views, 229 reposts, 320 likes, 15 bookmarks and 94 comments, appearing as one of the top trends in Nigeria, with many X users already believing it to be true.
For instance, Bukunmi Kolawole said, “The marriage shall be permanent till the end of time. Amen.” Another X user, OG Beeper wrote “Imo women have suffered. Why do fellow ibos refuse to marry imo women? Their governor has to hawk them to Fulani bandits receiving amnesty before they can be married. Chai. Ibos forgive imo women o, it is enough!”
Another user, Abu Aisha wrote, “Just imagine a wedding card – Bello Turji Weds Amaka Chukwuemeka Venue: Chief Obinna Ikemefunna Compound, no 4 Isiala Ngwa street, Umunne Market Square, Mbaise, Imo State.”
Verification
To ascertain the veracity of the claim, this report subjected the screenshot to a Google image search and it was found that the claim was first shared across Facebook and other social media platforms in 2021.
Further searches with a screengrab of the videos took this reporter to a post on Tiktok made by Eva Colomer which shows that one of them was made during Guerewol, Gerewol, an annual courtship ritual competition among the Wodaabe Fula people where young men dressed in elaborate ornamentation and made up in traditional face painting gather in lines to dance and sing, vying for the attentions of marriageable young women. There is even a handle dedicated to the Woodabe Tribe Courtship Dance on Tiktok.
Available information shows that the most famous gathering point is In-Gall in northwest Niger, where a large festival, market and series of clan meetings take place for both the Wodaabe and the pastoral Tuareg people.
Some of those who reacted at the time also believed it to be true while others debunked it. Sammy Chucks said, “This is really a serious problem in Imo State, he’s trying to deliver Imo to Fulani by all means. But God will not allow such evil.”
“Where are his daughters, have they all gotten married to Fulani herdsmen? Charity begins from home,” Owolabi Kehinde said.
Sunday Elosi, another Facebook user said “Uzodinma can not give out someone’s daughter against his will. Slavery has been banished throughout the entire world. That he is the governor of lmo state doesn’t give him such power. So park well.”
Fact checks done by credible organisations like Africa Check found the claim to be untrue.
Imo Government And ThisDay Denied The Report
Reacting to the claim via a statement posted on his Facebook Page in 2021, the Chief Press Secretary/ Media Adviser to Uzodinma at the time, Oguwike Nwachuku said that the doctored publication was the handiwork of desperate elements. This was published by several credible online platforms.
“Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State has nothing to do with the purported report on a cloned publication of ThisDay of Friday, August 27, 2021, with the headline: Shocking: Uzodimma Declares Free Marriage Between Fulani Settlers and Imo Ladies. Promises to pay bride price for herders who choose to marry Imo ladies… Imposes N1m fine to any father who refuses to give consent, “the statement read in part.
“The originators of the fake publication have two things in mind: to tarnish the image of the Governor and to destroy the credibility of ThisDay as a brand. The ill-conceived publication shows how desperate individuals and groups can get in trying to destroy the society, thinking that Governor Uzodimma is the issue,” it further read.
On August 28, 2021, the management of ThisDay also issued a statement, dismissing the publication as fake.
With the headline: “Shocking: Uzodinma declares Free Marriage Between Fulani Settlers and Imo Ladies” this fake version of our digital edition is being circulated on WhatsApp, Facebook and other social media platforms.
“We wish to state that ThisDay at no time published the said story. Our lead story on Friday, August 27 was Buhari Elated as NNPC Breaks Jinx, Declares N287bn Profit, First in 44 Years” the statement read.
“Sadly, these merchants of fake news have chosen to leverage the credibility and integrity of ThisDay to ply their trade. We completely reject this poor attempt by some unscrupulous people to impersonate our brand and identity in pursuit of whatever agenda they may have, by seeking to disseminate fake news to members of the public as emanating from ThisDay,” it continued.
ThisDay called on members of the public who may have unwittingly fallen for the cloned digital copy to disregard it and treat it with the utmost contempt it deserves while also calling on security agencies to help unmask the counterfeiters behind this forgery and bring them to book.
The rebuttal by ThisDay newspaper.
Conclusion
The post made by Nononsense is false and misleading as the newspaper used to portray the information was doctored and has been online since 2021 even though one of the videos accompanying the post originally belongs to the Wodaabe Fula people of Niger.
TheInvestigator produced this story through its Environmental and Accountability Reporting (EAR) project with support from the International Centre for Investigative Reporting and the MacArthur Foundation.