As Nigeria prepared for elections in 2027, social media posts shared a video claiming it shows Nigerian former interior minister Rauf Aregbesola coming under attack at a campaign rally. However, this is false; AFP traced the footage to an incident during the tenure of Gboyega Oyetola, currently a government minister, when #EndSARS protesters attacked his convoy while he was the state governor in Osun, southwestern Nigeria, in 2020.
“This politics is now scary ooo. He was disgraced and molested. He was not even allow to do any campaign in sagamu, he and his campaign team were chased out of sagamu. An ingrate, the evil he did to Tinubu will be pursuing him and will not be politically recognized any longer (sic),” read the caption of an X post published on August 17, 2025.
At the top of the 28-second video, an overlaid caption read: “Aregbesola got stone at Ogun state”.
"Sagamu" refers to a major town in the state.
Aregbesola, whose full name is Rauf Aregbesola, was the immediate past interior minister and long-time ally of Nigerian President Bola Tinubu. He served as Lagos commissioner for works (1999–2007) before becoming governor of Osun state (2010–2018) (archived here and here).
After falling out with the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Tinubu due to a local leadership conflict and his suspension from the party, Aregbesola formally defected in July 2025, accepting the role of interim national secretary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), the platform adopted by...
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