FACT-CHECK: Did Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour Attend MIT?

Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, the Labour Party (LP) gubernatorial candidate in Lagos, claims that he holds a master’s degree in architecture from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), United States.

He was forced to reiterate this on Thursday, after several posts on the Nigerian popular news aggregator, Nairaland, shared screenshots of correspondence with MIT as proof that Rhodes-Vivour lied about his degree from the institution.

“Finished this distinguished course with strong grades, with an emphasis in Real Estate Development where I participated in multiple impactful projects including: Project team China,” Rhodes-Vivour wrote of his coursework on his LinkedIn profile.

The Nairaland screenshots, which FIJ found out were doctored, are still being circulated on social media and messaging platforms like WhatsApp and Twitter.

FIJ sent an inquiry on the scholarship and alumnus status of Rhodes-Vivour to MIT on Thursday.

“The MIT Registrar’s Office can confirm that Mr. Rhodes-Vivour attended MIT from 2005 to 2008 and earned a Master of Architecture degree,” Sarah McDonnell wrote to FIJ on Thursday.

McDonnell is the deputy director of Media Relations at MIT News Office.

Rhodes-Vivour has an academic profile on Academia, a virtual community for academic and research paper publication. He attended the University of Nottingham for a bachelor’s degree in architecture and got his second master’s degree in research and public policy from the University of Lagos.

Rhodes-Vivour has also come under tribal attack from his detractors.

The LP candidate is looking to unseat the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led government in Lagos State in the March 18 gubernatorial election.