Director of Strategic Communication, APC Presidential Campaign Council, Dele Alake’s assertion that the APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu did not make the viral “a town hall different from balablu…” remark has been found to be false.
Alake made the claim while answering questions about his principal during an interview on Nigerian Info, 99.3 FM in Abuja on Thursday, February 9.
The APC campaign director said one of the “famous gaffes” where Tinubu said, “a town hall different from balablu blublu bulaba,” was doctored.
“No! That again is not true. It was doctored. I am telling you it was doctored because we showed the real original video clip on TVC,” the former Lagos commissioner said.
According to Alake, the real video was “broken into snippets and thrown on social media”.
🚨🩸Lies Alert ‼️ Dele Alake says that “Bala Blu Bulaba” was doctored. Why do APC people and Tinubu’s team lie this much? Something that some of us watched live on national televisions? Take a listen to the f00l 👇 pic.twitter.com/6iMZYzI9Tc
— Aku-N’esi-Obi-Ike (I) (@Orji_Okosisi1) February 9, 2023
A Fact Check report by the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) found Alake’s assertion to be false.
The report affirmed that Tinubu indeed made the remark during a Town Hall meeting with a group of businessmen in Owerri, the Imo State capital.
The report stated, “The CDD Election War Room checked Television Continental (TVC), a media house where Tinubu is a promoter and financial investor, and found that their live stream of the event captures Tinubu’s gaffe.
“The 33 minutes and 44 seconds-long video clip of the APC Town Hall meeting with the private sector can be found here on TVC news YouTube channel.
“The actual event took place in Imo state and shortly after his opening remark, about three minute and 40 seconds into the video, Bola Tinubu made the gaffe.
“We also searched through the TVC Youtube channel, where Dele Alake said they posted the original video clip. However, we could not find a different version as claimed by Alake.
“The TVC video shows Tinubu indeed uttering unintelligible words.”
The report further stated, “Dele Alake’s claim that the video was doctored is false.”