Videos: South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa Exchanging Greetings With President Tinubu At Swearing-In For 2nd Term

President Bola Tinubu was at the swearing-in of the re-elected President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa today, June 19, 2024.

Videos from the event show Ramaphosa and Tinubu exchanging greetings and the official recognition accorded Nigeria’s first citizen and Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

The videos shut down contrary claims premised on an incomplete video with a mischievous slant.

Pulling the rug on how the mischief makers came up with the “incomplete video”, Otega Ogra, the Senior Special Adviser on Digital Communications to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu wrote on X, along with the subtitled video, “For the record:

1. That first row at today’s inauguration was reserved for South African kings/royalty.
2. The South African President wasn’t expected to start greeting dignitaries at the time of the video you shared and he was respectfully recalled to the podium by the inauguration compere (see video below).
3. Immediately after President Ramaphosa finished the anthem, he went ahead to greet the visiting presidents who were all seated in the second row (similar to the way visiting presidents were seated in the third row during Nigeria’s own inauguration on May 29, 2023 – see pictures below).

Otega’s post was directed at the passionate campaigner of Peter Obi, the candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 Presidential election – and social media person – Aisha Yesufu who amplified the sharing of the “mischievous and incomplete video”.