Video ordering Americans to leave Nigeria shows comedian, not president | Fact check
Joedy McCrearyThe claim: Video shows ‘Nigerian president’ ordering Americans to leave country
A Feb. 4 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows a video of a man dressed in military attire delivering what appears to be an official response to the mass deportations marking the start of President Donald Trump’s second term.
“I have decided that I am giving American citizens in my country 24 hours of notice to pack their bags and leave my country immediately,” the man says at one point in the clip, which was first posted to TikTok.
On-screen text included in the video reads, “Nigerian president final decision to Americans.”
The Instagram clip received more than 200 likes in three days. Similar versions circulated widely on Facebook and elsewhere on Instagram.
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Our rating: False
That’s not the president of Nigeria. That’s a British comedian. There is no record of the real Nigerian leader – Bola Tinubu – making such a declaration.
Man in video is British comedian, not Nigerian president
Shortly after returning to office, Trump began to follow through on the crackdown on immigration he promised during the campaign, with an increasing number of raids across the U.S. targeting those in the country illegally.
But contrary to the post’s claim, the man shown responding to that deportation push is not the president of Nigeria. He’s a comedian from Great Britain whose stage name is President Obonjo. His act centers on his role as the self-proclaimed dictator of the fictitious "Lafta Republic."
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The comedian originally posted the video on TikTok on Jan. 26. It does not include any superimposed text. A version shared three days later by another TikTok user, however, added the on-screen text identifying the speaker as the president of Nigeria. That user’s name appears at the end of the versions shared to Instagram and Facebook. USA TODAY reached out to that TikTok user but did not immediately receive a response.
In both a comment posted in response to the TikTok version and in a Feb. 4 Facebook post, the comic – whose real name is Benjamin Bankole Bello – made clear he is not and did not claim to be the president of Nigeria, stating in the Facebook post that “someone reposted the video and added Nigerian President to it. People have been reposting it without doing their research.”
In another indication the claim is false, the flag shown in the clip looks nothing like the flag of Nigeria – which features two vertical green stripes surrounding a white one. Rather, it matches the flag of the fictitious republic referenced on the President Obonjo website.
In reality, the president of Nigeria is Tinubu. There is no record that he has made any announcements about ordering Americans to leave the country.
USA TODAY reached out to several social media users who shared the video but did not immediately receive responses.
Our fact-check sources
- PresidentObonjo.com, accessed Feb. 7, Welcome to the home page of his serene excellency, President Obonjo of Lafta Republic
- @PresidentObonjo, Jan. 26, TikTok video
- @peter.savage3 (archive), Jan. 29, TikTok video
- President Obonjo, Feb. 4, Facebook post
- Nigeria Ministry of Foreign Affairs, accessed Feb. 7, National Symbols
- Federal Republic of Nigeria, accessed Feb. 7, Bola Ahmed Tinubu
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