On Friday, August 4, 2023, a photo of the Former Minister of Interior Rauf Aregbesola watching his successor and former Governor of Osun State Oyetola during his ministerial screening at the senate was widely shared on the social media.
Gboyega Oyetola was recently nominated by President Bola Tinubu as a Minister from Osun State.
The picture had generated a lot of controversy due to the political differences between the former Governors.
Due to the sensitivity of the picture and the political colouration it has garnered, the informant247 fact-check team decided to fact check the photo.
Verification
The Informant247 fact-check team reached out to a close ally to Aregbesola, Rasheed Raji Ropo to confirm the development.
While the close ally debunked the authenticity of the photo, he shared the original picture with the team for comparison and confirmation.
The team identified the production qualities, distinctive features and other certain elements in the photo.
It was discovered in the original photo that Aregbesola was not the only one watching the Television.
The original picture also shows that it was the former Governor of Kaduna State Nasiru El-Rufai speaking on the Television and not Gboyega Oyetola.
It was also discovered that there is a tiny part of the hand of the person standing beside the Governor in the doctored picture.
The ally further confirmed that the person standing with Aregbesola was one of his Personal Assistants named Hon. Teju Olohungbe Aduni.
He noted that the Photo was taken in 2017 during the second tenure of Aregbesola’s administration as Governor of Osun State.
Verdict
The photo showing Rauf Aregbesola watching Gboyega Oyetola on Television during the latter’s ministerial screening was doctored and is false. The original photo shows that there is another person standing beside Aregbesola and it was former Governor El-Rufai speaking on the Television
