Culture

The video of a ‘Pastor Daniel’ petting lions went viral; turns out it was fake news

Published

7 months ago

September 30, 2023

A fact-checking investigation carried out by the BBC has debunked claims by some social media accounts of a purported African Christian leader labelled ‘Pastor Daniel’ who, like the biblical Daniel, miraculously tamed lions.

The man had become an internet sensation, generating interest and excitement among social media users. But revelations by the BBC have now poured cold water on the spurious claims.

According to the BBC investigation, the claims have turned out to be false after the video of the said person petting three lions had already gone viral and was widely shared online in several African countries.

In the report, the BBC described the content of the viral video, thus: the man “in a blue suit can be seen playing with the lions, at one point putting his hand inside the mouth of one of them.

“Outside the enclosure, a small crowd is watching, some filming or taking pictures. The itself is real enough and there appears to be no manipulation of the footage.”

However, the platform provided an in-depth analysis of the video, knocking out the authenticity of the claim.

“Widespread claims have spread online that he is a church pastor recreating the Biblical story of Daniel in the lions’ den in a bid to prove his powers to his followers.

“The video has been widely shared in recent days in Ghana and Nigeria, but appears to have originated in Somalia. In Kenya, a local television station has shared the video on its social media accounts.”

Further fact-checking by the BBC went thus:

“The BBC has identified the man, and he’s not a church leader. Using a reverse image search we found a news story on YouTube from 2021 filmed at a tourist park in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, in which an enclosure matched that holding the lions in the viral video.

“We were also able to determine that the man interviewed in the earlier film, named as Mohamed Abdirahman Mohamed, was the same as the one in the clip being shared across Africa in recent days.

“He is a zookeeper and has been working at the park for over eight years. The story mentioned a tourist park in Mogadishu, which by searching the name on TikTok in Somali led us to an account where the original video had been posted.

“There are other videos of Mohamed with the lions, the oldest posted in March this year. We also traced a Facebook page in the park’s name where in April, they had promoted the lions as an attraction available during Eid – the Muslim festival that marks the end of Ramadan.”

Related Topics:BBC Fact-Check Featured Lions Pastor Daniel

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Culture

Burna Boy emerges Africa’s top earning artiste in the US from tours, concerts

Published

1 day ago

May 5, 2024

Akanimoh Etim

Nigerian Afrobeats sensation,
Burna Boy, has emerged as the first African artiste to stage the highest-grossing arena concerts and tours in the United States of America.

International rating platform, Touring Data, which provides a PDF and spreadsheet with ticket count information for tours in the US and Canada, in a post on X, said the “Common Man” crooner beat his record set in 2022 after he generated $1.593 million, (over N2 billion), at his TD Garden in Boston on March 2.

‘‘Burna Boy earns the highest-grossing arena concert by an African artist in US history with $1.593 million at TD Garden in Boston on March 2, 2024, surpassing his numbers at Madison Square Garden in 2022,” Touring Data stated.

The platform also noted that one of Burna Boy’s “I Told Them” tour sold out by large margins in Scotiabank Arena, Montreal and Toronto in Canada, Boston in the US, and Cologne in Germany.

Touring Data also stated that over 124,706 tickets valued at $93.50 on average were sold at the “I Told Them” tour.

“Revenue-wise, $11,659,531, or about N16 billion, was realised via the ticket sales,” the data platform said.

“Shortly after dropping the highly anticipated video for “City Boys”, Burna Boy announced his I Told Them… Tour.

“Produced by Live Nation, the 16-city tour kicked off on 3 November at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.

“It marked Burna Boy’s first-ever performance in a Los Angeles stadium. He toured other American cities, including Houston, Chicago, Toronto, and more, before wrapping up in Atlanta at State Farm Arena on March 9th.

“Nine months earlier, the “African Giant” had a sold-out show at Citi Field, New York, making him the first Nigerian artiste to headline a stadium in America.

“BMO Stadium’s website said the singer commanded a crowd of more than 40,000 fans, including celebrities like Busta Rhymes, SZA, NBA star Mo Bamba, NFL Star Larry Ogunjobi, and British rapper Dave, who joined him on stage for a performance of his (Burna Boy’s) hit song “Location.”

“This history-making performance followed his landmark London Stadium performance, where Burna Boy made history as the first African to headline a stadium in the U.K.

“With his Madison Square Garden performance, the singer again made history as the first Nigerian musician to sell out The World’s Most Famous Arena.

“The global giant once again made history with his recently released album “I TOLD THEM…” after it debuted at #1 on the official U.K. Albums chart, making him the first international African artiste to earn the title,” it stated.

Culture

Meet the Ugandan tribe where bride’s aunt must ‘test’ groom’s manhood before marriage

Published

2 days ago

May 4, 2024

Akanimoh Etim

The Bayankole tribe in the western parts of Uganda are a unique people with a strange tradition where a would-be groom is mandated to “test” his manhood and virility with an aunt of his bride-to-be before a marriage is conducted.

For the ethnic group who are found in the Bushenyi District, Buhweju District, Mitooma District, Rubirizi District, Sheema District, Ntungamo District, Mbarara District, Kiruhura District, Ibanda District, and Isingiro District of the eastern African country, marriage is of great importance as parents derive joy and pride from their children’s marriage and as such, the ability of the husband to stay “strong” is as important as the marriage itself.

Virginity in also held in high esteem so the girls must abstain from premarital sex.

According to the tradition, when a girl gets to the age of eight or nine, it is the duty of her aunt to groom her for family life.

Also known as the Ankole, the tribe considers the slim physique unattractive because to them, being fat is sexy, so when girls get to the ages of eight and nine, they are required to go through a fattening process which is usually done to speed up the weight gain of the girls so they can attract a husband.

The Banyakole marriage involves several ceremonies including a “giveaway period” know as “Kuhingira” where the relatives and friends of the bride present her with gifts such as cows and other food items to take to her matrimonial home.

On the wedding day, a feast is organized at the bride’s home where the father slaughters a bull while at the groom’s home, there is also a feast to consummate the marriage.

But first, there has to be one last ceremony, that involves tests that must be done by the bride’s aunt.

It involves the bride’s aunt testing the sexual ability of the groom by having sex with him to make sure he is potent.

During the act, the aunt learns the man’s sex techniques as well as favorite styles so she can gift her niece with pointers on what the groom likes sexually.

After confirmation is done, the bride is then taught by her aunt and allowed to consummate the marriage by being sent by her aunt to the husband with her blessings.