TikTok posts falsely claim Kenya’s Odinga drops out of AU chairmanship race

Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga’s bid to chair the African Union (AU) is being marred by misinformation. A viral TikTok post alleged that Odinga abandoned his pursuit for the so that he can contest Kenya’s presidential elections in 2027. But the claim is false; Odinga remains in the AU race, with the election set for February 2025 in Addis Ababa. Last week, he took his campaign to Ethiopia’s capital where he unveiled his vision for the continent.

On October 24, 2024, a TikTok account shared an audio clip of Odinga speaking at a press conference.

“Listen to Raila Odinga powerful speech today about rejecting AU job to vie for president in 2027,” reads a text overlay on the clip, which has been liked more than 8,700 times.

In the 10-minute recording, Odinga speaks about challenges facing Africa and the need for nations to unite in addressing them.

“There are many things which we will intend to deal with when we go up there. I am a candidate, as I mentioned, and I am happy that the Kenya government has come forward to make me a formal candidate,” he says.

“As you have already been told, we have already submitted our application as required by the AU, the Secretariat. And from now on, it is all systems go.”

The post features a static image of Odinga taken from a television broadcast.

However, at no point in the clip does Odinga declare the end of his bid for the AU chairmanship.

Still in the race

A Google keyword search led us to an official YouTube channel affiliated with Odinga where we found the same speech as the one featured in the TikTok post (archived here).

“Live: Joint Press Briefing on Raila’s AUC chairperson Bid,” reads the caption on the “Azimio TV” YouTube channel.

Azimio is the coalition of parties Odinga represented during elections in 2022 when he lost to President William Ruto in a tight contest.

The joint briefing in Nairobi by Odinga and Kenya’s Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi detailed the opposition leader’s AU chairmanship bid.

Odinga’s speech starts at the 25’20” mark in the original video and matches the audio in the misleading TikTok post word for word.

A screengrab from the YouTube video also shows a match when compared to the image in the false post.

While responding to journalists' questions at the briefing, Odinga said: “I am not going to be very active in Kenyan politics.” He makes no mention of running for president in 2027.

The video was published on August 21, 2024 -- around a week before Kenya officially launched Odinga’s candidacy in Nairobi (archived here).

On November 8, 2024, the veteran politician took his campaign to Ethiopia’s capital (archived here) -- more than two weeks after the false post claimed he had thrown in the towel.

The AU election is set for a secret vote in February 2025 in Addis Ababa (archived here).

Odinga, who hopes to succeed Moussa Faki Mahamat, is one of four candidates, including Djibouti’s Foreign Affairs Minister Mahamoud Ali Youssouf.