Kenya: Video Does Not Show Kenya's Raila Odinga Protesting After Defeat in African Union Leadership Election

28 February 2025
Africa Check (Johannesburg)
By Makinia Juma Sylvia

Video does not show Kenya's Raila Odinga protesting after defeat in African Union leadership election

IN SHORT: A video has been posted on TikTok claiming to show Kenyan politician Raila Odinga reacting angrily after losing his bid to become chair of the African Union Commission in 2025. However, the video is from March 2023 and is unrelated to the position.

Former Kenyan prime minister Raila Odinga announced his bid to chair the African Union Commission (AUC) in February 2024. He officially launched his candidacy in August.

Keep up with the latest headlines on WhatsApp | LinkedIn

The AUC is the secretariat of the African Union and manages the day-to-day activities of the 55-country bloc.

Odinga sought to succeed Moussa Faki Mahamat of Chad but lost out to Mahmoud Ali Youssouf of Djibouti after the vote in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 15 February 2025.

After the tight election, a video was posted on TikTok showing Odinga seemingly agitated, with a caption suggesting that his frustration stemmed from the AUC's election loss.

Text on the video reads: "Raila after he lost AUC." In the clip, Odinga says: "What kind of concessions? This is a public office, and I have a right to go inside. What law is that?"

Odinga, who has unsuccessfully contested five presidential elections in Kenya in 1997, 2007, 2013, 2017 and 2022, has blamed electoral fraud for some of his defeats. The video appears to reinforce that narrative.

But is it really an indication of Odinga's reaction to the AUC election results?

Video is old, unrelated

Africa Check conducted a reverse image search on keyframes from the clip. We found a longer version of the footage posted on Citizen TV Kenya's YouTube channel on 7 March 2023. The video is titled "Raila Odinga barred from entering DCI HQs."

At the time, Odinga and a group of leaders were attempting to enter the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters, where Kenya's former interior minister Fred Matiang'i was being questioned. News reports from several Kenyan outlets confirmed the incident.

The DCI had summoned Matiang'i to give a statement on an alleged police raid on his home.

A closer look at the video shows that Odinga is wearing the same blue suit and white and blue hat in both the 2023 footage and the misleadingly captioned video.

Contrary to claims made after the AUC election, Odinga publicly accepted the results, congratulated Youssouf and maintained that blame games were unnecessary.

Read the original story, with links and other resources.
Africa Check is a non-partisan organisation which promotes accuracy in public debate and in the media. Twitter @AfricaCheck and www.africacheck.org

Tagged:
Copyright © 2025 Africa Check. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.

AllAfrica publishes around 400 reports a day from more than 90 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct.

Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica. To address comments or complaints, please Contact us.