Viral 'U$57.5bn loan' to Nigerian Biafra secessionists not true
IN SHORT: A much-shared screenshot appears to be an X post from a pro-Biafran leader, claiming that the head of the World Trade Organization helped his organisation secure a colossal loan. But the X post is fake.
A screenshot of an alleged X post claiming that the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loaned US$57.5 billion to a secessionist group has been circulating online since October 2024.
The post is in the name of Simon Ekpa, who leads a faction of the Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob), an outlawed group seeking the restoration of the Republic of Biafra.
Biafra is a region in south-eastern Nigeria. Its secession in 1967 triggered a 30-month civil war. The region was reintegrated into Nigeria in January 1970. However, supporters continue to call for independence.
Ekpa is from Ebonyi state in south-east Nigeria, but resides in Finland. He refers to himself as the prime minister of the self-declared Biafra Republic Government in Exile.
"BREAKING: The World Bank and IMF have agreed to loan the sum of $57.5 billion to Biafra Republic Government in Exile (BRGIE) to form our government after December 2nd 2024 declaration of Biafra. I thank our sister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala for helping me to facilitate the loan," the screenshot reads.
The post drew reactions from many social media users, with some saying it was real and others saying it was fake.
Ipob and its supporters often use disinformation campaigns to promote narratives about the separatist movement. But are the claims attributed to Ekpa in the screenshot accurate? We checked.
Is the X post really from Simon Ekpa?
The first issue is whether Ekpa originally published the X post in the screenshot.
Africa Check found no evidence he did. The viral posts don't include a link or URL to the purported original X post, despite the fact that his supporters would certainly have been interested in more details about a 57.5 billion-dollar loan.
We searched various social media platforms, including Facebook, TikTok and X, but we could not find any retweets or a URL linking to the original post. This is a red flag, as Ekpa has over 178,000 followers on X and his posts often generate a lot of reactions.
All we found were messages referring to the alleged tweet and screenshots here, here, and here, which had generated hundreds of thousands of reactions from social media users.
We also noticed that the screenshot was cropped. Posts on X usually display the time, date and number of views at the bottom. In the screenshot of the X post purporting to be from 23 October 2024, the number of views is missing. This led us to believe that the post in the screenshot is a fake.
Ekpa has also denied authoring such a post, alleging that it was photoshopped.
The denial was in response to a tweet from Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the director general of the World Trade Organization, refuting the claim. The WTO regulates and facilitates global trade between nations.
Bretton Woods institutions do not give loans to non-members
The IMF is a global organisation focused on enhancing financial stability and promoting international trade. The World Bank provides funding and policy help to developing countries to support projects aimed at reducing poverty.
Together the two are known as the Bretton Woods institutions. They do not give loans to non-member nations. Biafra is not a sovereign state and is not a member of either the IMF or the World Bank.
If this claim were true, it would be a significant development and would have been widely reported in the international media. But we found no media coverage of such a story.
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But to be sure, Africa Check reached out to the IMF, World Bank and Okonjo-Iweala.
The World Bank responded to Africa Check's direct message on X, saying: "Please note that this is false."
WTO head rubbished claim she helped 'facilitate' loan
The screenshot also claimed that Okonjo-Iweala facilitated the $57.5 billion loan for Biafra.
Okonjo-Iweala refuted the claim on X, and warned those misusing her name.
"I know no sensible person will believe what is contained in the outrageous tweet below but in these troubled times it is important to underscore that the statement is false," part of her post reads.
There is no evidence linking Simon Ekpa to the tweet in the viral screenshot - it appears to have been fabricated. And there is no evidence that Okonjo-Iweala helped pro-Biafran separatists secure a loan from the World Bank or IMF.
