A respected American website has clarified that a clip by a comedian from the British stand-up circuit pretending to be an African dictator deporting Americans is a joke.

In the clip that appeared on social media comedian Benjamin Bankole Bello, in the guise of uniformed spoof dictator President Obonjo makes a dramatic statement: “I have decided that I am giving American citizens in my country 24 hours of notice to pack their bags and leave my country immediately.”

Some accounts thought the clip was a genuine response to President Trump's recent announcements and that Obonjo was a genuine African leader.

USA Today promptly got its fact checkers on the case: "That’s not the president of Nigeria. That’s a British comedian. There is no record of the real Nigerian leader – Bola Tinubu – making such a declaration....contrary to the post’s claim, the man shown responding to that deportation push is not the president of Nigeria. He’s a comedian from Great Britain whose stage name is President Obonjo. His act centers on his role as the self-proclaimed dictator of the fictitious "Lafta Republic."

Bello says that he had made it clear he is not and did not claim to be the president of Nigeria, writing on Facebook that “someone reposted the video and added Nigerian President to it. People have been reposting it without doing their research.” The flag in the background is the flag of the fictional 'Lafta Republic' and definitely not the flag of Nigeria. 

Read the USA Today report here.

Watch the post with the incorrect caption here.