The Presidency has dismissed claims that angry youths stoned President Bola Tinubu’s convoy in Abuja after Friday prayers, describing a viral video circulated by former Kogi West Senator Dino Melaye as misleading.
The controversy followed reports that Tinubu encountered hostile youths after attending Juma’at prayers at the Shehu Shagari Mosque in Garki, Abuja, on Friday, November 13.
A video shared by Melaye showed some youths chanting “Ba ma yi, ba ma so” — Hausa for “we don’t want you; we don’t support you” — while appearing to throw objects towards the President’s convoy.
However, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Digital Engagement, Strategy and New Media, O’tega Ogra, rejected the claim that Tinubu was attacked.
Ogra described the circulating footage as misleading and accused opposition elements of pushing a false narrative.
In a counter-video posted on his verified X account, the presidential aide showed Tinubu leaving the mosque after prayers, dressed in white and waving to cheering supporters.
“Contrary to the narrative being pushed by the opposition, with videos of their alleged paid thugs at the National Mosque today, here is footage of Mr President leaving the mosque after Friday prayers this afternoon,” Ogra wrote.
The competing videos have triggered conflicting accounts of what happened around the President’s movement in Abuja.
While Melaye’s footage was presented as evidence of hostility towards Tinubu, Ogra insisted that the President left the mosque peacefully.
The Presidency’s response, however, did not independently establish whether the youths seen in Melaye’s video were at the same location or whether any objects struck the presidential convoy.