FALSE! Liberian artist JZyNo did not buy $50m mansion in Nigeria
By Laymah Kollie
Liberian Artist JZyNo. Photo source: @Facebook/JZyNo.
Claim: A blogger alleged that the Liberian singer and songwriter Jonathan Lee Pratt, popularly known as JZyNo has bought a mansion worth $50 million in Lagos, Nigeria.
Verdict: False. DUBAWA’s checks showed no evidence that the artist bought a mansion in Nigeria during his tour in the country in early 2024. Findings reveal that the purported house shared by the blogger belongs to Nigerian actress Funmi Awelewa. Sources have disclosed that the movie star built the house for her mother and siblings.
Full Text
The Liberian Artist Jonathan Lee, commonly known by the stage name JZyNo, visited Nigeria on a tour in the beginning of 2024. While in the country, the artist was seen with some Nigerian Influencers such as Small Daddy and Asake.
However, on Apr. 8, 2024, a Liberian blogger named Pratt claimed on Facebook that Jzyno bought a mansion worth $ 50 million in Lagos, Nigeria.
“Liberia’s Ghana-based international artist Jzyno has shocked the world with his million-dollar mansion in Nigeria, Lagos. Congratulations to him on the purchase of a $50 million dollars mansion in Nigeria Lagos. Only Liberian artist Jzyno has this,” the blogger wrote.
Data available on Facebook shows the post had received over 5,342 likes, 826 comments, and 52 shares as of Apr. 19, 2024.
In the comment section, some supporters believed to be Liberians expressed dissatisfaction about the artist’s action to purchase a house in Nigeria instead of his home country (Liberia). Some immediately denounced their support for him and his music career.
The negative reactions and counter-reactions caught DUBAWA’s attention, so we decided to fact-check it as part of our campaign against misinformation and disinformation.
Verification
From our investigation, we found that the Liberian songwriter, JZyNo took to his Facebook page to refute the claim. In the now-deleted post, he noted that he does not have that kind of money to buy the alleged mansion.
“JZYNO got himself a 50 million US dollars house in Nigeria? People are so interesting. Where am I getting that kind of money to buy a house at this stage? Some bloggers are selling me badly,” he said.
DUBAWA conducted a Google Reverse Image Search and discovered that the mansion in question was built by a Nigerian actress, Funmi Awelewa, in 2022 for her mother. This was reported by a popular Nigerian blog, Kemifilani.ng, on Oct. 11, 2022.
“Nollywood actress Funmi Awelewa, popularly known as Morili, has built a mansion for her mother and siblings a few hours after penning a teary-eyed note to her mother. The beautiful and budding Yoruba actress got many [people] storming her Instagram page with congratulatory messages when she shared photos of the new house online.”
Another blog, Empireafrica.com, wrote on Oct. 11, 2022, “Nollywood actress Funmi Awelewa, popularly known as Morili, has finally completed a one-story mansion for her mother and siblings. Funmi is bursting with joy and fulfilment after pulling off a personal project to make life even more comfortable for her family members.”
Considering the media attention generated by the mansion built by the Nigerian actress, JZyNo would have been in the news if he had bought the said property as alleged. However, a Google keyword search showed no media organisation in the West African country reported about the purported purchase of the mansion.
Conclusion
The claim that Liberian songwriter JZyNo has bought a mansion worth $50 million in Lagos, Nigeria, is untrue. The house belongs to Nigerian actress Funmi Awelewa.
