No, the photo shared with Kenya’s first lady, Rachel Ruto, is not of Nigeria’s first lady, but of Nollywood actress Gbonkan. - iVerify Kenya

No, the photo shared with Kenya’s first lady, Rachel Ruto, is not of Nigeria’s first lady, but of Nollywood actress Gbonkan.

Misleading

The lady in the first picture is veteran Yoruba actress Margaret Bandele Olayinka, also known as Iya Gbonkan, not Nigeria’s first lady. The second photo, however, is of Kenya’s First Lady, Rachel Chebet Ruto. She is the wife of William Ruto, Kenya’s fifth and current President.

The image was shared to compare Nigeria’s and Kenya’s first ladies on March 2, 2023, when Kenyans faced off against their Nigerian counterparts in a Twitter battle centered on the West African country’s recent elections.

Aisha Buhari is the First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, but she will be replaced on May 25 by Oluremi Tinubu, the wife of President-elect Oluremi Tinubu, who will take over from President Muhammadu Buhari.

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Verified Mar, 05 2023

Claim

Images comparing Nigeria’s and Kenya’s first ladies

Rating Justification

The iVerify Network of Fact-Checking Desks has fact-checked this content and
established that it is Misleading.

To arrive to this conclusion, the iVerify Network of Fact-Checking Desks has conducted the following process. We conducted a reverse image search on the lady in the first photo and found an article published on March 13, 2020 by P.M. News, a daily newspaper published in Lagos, Nigeria, stating that she, Iya Gbonkan, is a Nollywood veteran.

Evidence and References

Articles build on this verification


Journalist Name

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