{"id":4711,"date":"2024-05-20T08:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-20T08:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/infochecked.org\/?p=4711"},"modified":"2024-05-19T16:37:28","modified_gmt":"2024-05-19T16:37:28","slug":"fact-check-banjul-port-terminal-has-not-been-sold-to-nigerian-media-mogul-taiwo-afolabi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/infochecked.org\/?p=4711","title":{"rendered":"Fact Check: Banjul Port terminal has not been sold to Nigerian media mogul, Taiwo Afolabi"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
The Gambia Ports Authority has denied the purported sale of the port of Banjul to the Nigerian businessman Taiwo. Photo credit: @Facebook\/Gambiaportsauthority<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Claim: A Facebook user<\/a> has alleged that the Nigerian media mogul Taiwo Olayinka Afolabi has bought the \u201cBanjul Port terminal\u201d in The Gambia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verdict: This is false. DUBAWA\u2019s checks have revealed that the Gambia Ports have not been sold to the Nigerian Taiwo Olayinka Afolabi, as alleged. Instead, a businessman-owned company has a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the government of The Gambia to build and operate a dry port, SIFAX Group announced<\/a> on Aug. 14, 2018. Also, the Gambia Ports Authority Public Relations Officer, Gibou M. Saidy<\/a>, has refuted the claim, describing it as \u201cfalse.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Facebook user<\/a> claimed the Nigerian media owner Taiwo Olayinka Afolabi has bought “the Banjul Port Terminal.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Writing on Facebook on May 7, 2024, the social media user said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAccording to Nigerian media, multimillionaire Barrister Taiwo Olayinka Afolabi recently bought \u2018the Banjul Ports Terminal.\u2019 Which terminal? The Gambia Ports Authority should clarify.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Afolabi is the Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SIFAX Group, a group of companies with investments in maritime, aviation, oil and gas, haulage and logistics, financial services, and hospitality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The data on Facebook shows the post has received over 1,230 comments, 49 shares, and over 2,234 likes as of May 11, 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>DUBAWA also traced the claim to a post<\/a> made by an X user (formerly Twitter) on May 1, 2024, when celebrating the achievement of the Nigerian businessman on his 62nd birthday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Extolling the work of the media mogul, the X user claimed<\/a>Taiwo \u201crecently bought the Banjul Ports Terminal.\u201d This post on X may be the source of the claim making the rounds on social media in The Gambia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We decided to probe the allegation as part of our campaign against misinformation and disinformation in West Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verification<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DUBAWA\u2019s checks revealed that a company owned by the media mogul has a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the government of The Gambia to build and operate a dry port, SIFAX Group announced<\/a> on August 14, 2018. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The MoU was reportedly signed<\/a> in Banjul by the Group Managing Director of SIFAX Group, John Jenkins, and the Managing Director of Gambia Ports Authority (GPA), Abdoulie Tambedou, in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, the Gambia Ports Authority Public Relations Officer, Gibou M. Saidy, refuted the claim with some strong words. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is one of the biggest fake news stories I have heard in the year. The Gambia has no intention of selling any part of our terminals to any Nigerian or billionaire in Nigeria because we don\u2019t have a terminal system,\u201d he told DUBAWA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He noted that The Gambia has only two wharves\u2013 the old and the new. The government, he explained, is in discussion with some investors about a public-private partnership contract to bring progress at the ports. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>\u201cAs far as I am concerned, and the management of the Gambia Ports Authority is concerned, nothing has been sold to anyone,\u201d Mr Saidy stressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>A Google keyword search conducted by DUBAWA also showed that no media organisation in The Gambia had published news reports about the purported sale of the country\u2019s Port to the Nigerian. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Similarly, the SIFAX Group, owned by Mr Afolabi, has published its MoU with The Gambian government on its website but did not say anything about purchasing the \u2018Banjul ports terminal.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is not true that Nigerian businessman, Taiwo Afolabi, has purchased Gambia Ports. The Public Relations Officer of the Gambia Ports Authority<\/a>, Gibou M. Saidy, refuted the allegation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The researcher produced this fact-check per the DUBAWA 2024 Kwame Karikari Fellowship, in partnership with Fact Check Center – The Gambia, to facilitate the spirit of \u201ctruth\u201d in journalism and enhance media literacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By: Yankuba Taal<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researcher <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Claim: A Facebook user has alleged that the Nigerian media mogul Taiwo Olayinka Afolabi has bought the \u201cBanjul Port terminal\u201d in The Gambia. Verdict: This is false. DUBAWA\u2019s checks have revealed that the Gambia Ports have not been sold to the Nigerian Taiwo Olayinka Afolabi, as alleged. Instead, a businessman-owned company has a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,14,17,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economics","category-facebook","category-fact-checks","category-viral-claims"],"blocksy_meta":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/infochecked.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/infochecked.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/infochecked.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infochecked.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infochecked.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4711"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/infochecked.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4712,"href":"https:\/\/infochecked.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4711\/revisions\/4712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/infochecked.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infochecked.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infochecked.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}