The post, which has been shared more than 1,200 times, includes a 60-second clip showing Ramaphosa and his wife, Tshepo Motsepe, on a TV screen greeting African dignitaries sitting in the front row at the presidential inauguration in Pretoria . Tinubu and other African leaders occupy the second row.
Twenty-two seconds into the video, a voice begins speaking in Igbo – a language spoken mainly in Nigeria’s southeastern zone, where Tinubu’s leadership is unpopular (archived here).
The region has been a hotbed of unrest since 1967, when the separatist group Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) began fighting for independence, a struggle that continues to this day (archived here).
“Look where they kept Tinubu,” the narrator says. “Just look at the Nigerian president standing in the back. He smiles at them to greet him, but they didn’t, no one said anything to him.
Several X accounts posted the video with the same claim (see here, here and here). Nigerian activist Aisha Yesufu also posted a video titled “Tinubu again disgraced in South Africa” on YouTube, with her added commentary.
Tinubu left Nigeria on June 18, 2024 to attend Ramaphosa’s inauguration, after the 71-year-old put together a governing coalition with bitter rivals to secure another term (archived here).
Coalition members voted overwhelmingly to re-elect Ramaphosa after the May 29 general election failed to produce an outright winner for the first time in three decades (archived here).
On June 19, the South African government posted a video on X showing Tinubu’s arrival (archived here).
But the claim that Ramaphosa rejected Tinubu is false.
Incomplete video
Several local and international broadcasters broadcast the swearing-in ceremony.
An online search led to the hour-long feed from the state-funded South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC).
At exactly 3’15”14”, Ramaphosa begins greeting guests, but less than a minute later pauses to hear the national anthem. It is at this point that the clip in the false posts is cut.
Three minutes later, Ramaphosa turns to other guests and is seen shaking hands with Tinubu – the moment is visible at 3’20”16”’ in the video.
The South African government published a video on X the next day of Ramaphosa and Tinubu talking together in a room (archived here).
[BILATERAL]: His Excellency President Matamela @CyrilRamaphosa during a bilateral meeting with His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Adekunie Tinubu @officialABAT of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
President Tinubu is in South Africa where he attended the presidential inauguration… pic.twitter.com/rQWgVrKOev
— The Presidency (@PresidencyZA) June 20, 2024
The caption says the two presidents held a bilateral meeting.
At the same time, another
An aide to Tinubu also shared the same footage on X, including the moment when Ramaphosa tells Tinubu how “honored and privileged” he was to have him at his inauguration (archived here).
“I am encouraged and that of South Africans as a whole that the President of Africa’s largest country will be attending our inauguration. I have come to pay him my deepest respect and also to discuss issues that unite our two countries,” Ramaphosa told reporters.
