A graphic video showing young men being set ablaze on the street after being beaten by mobs has surfaced online with a claim that it shows Igbos from Nigeria being killed for using people for money rituals in Mozambique.
An X user, Ogonna Ezeka (@EzekaOgonna) posted the 30-second video with a caption that read:
“This happened in Mozambique killing the igbos there for using the citizens for money rituals.”
Another verified X user, @nononsensezone, reposted the same video with another caption thus:
“D**n. I just watched this video. It has to be one of the most inhumane videos have ever seen. Igbos is not every country you lot need to visit.”
The video has been circulated widely on X (formerly Twitter).
CLAIM
Video shows the killing of Igbos over money rituals allegation in Mozambique.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is MISLEADING.
The Igbo people are one of the major ethnic groups in Nigeria, concentrated in the southeast around the Niger River. They can also be found in the South-South part of the country.
The FactCheckHub subjected keyframes in the viral video to a Google reverse image search and the result shows that it has been online since April 2023.
Similarly, the incident in the footage, which has nothing to do with Igbos or money ritual, occurred in Haiti and not Mozambique.
An earlier and longer version of the exact video was published by Krudplug.net on April 25, 2023. It was also posted here by Daily Mail.
The news was widely reported by many media outlets including Al-Jazeera, BBC, New York Post, Associated Press and Voice of America.
According to media reports, the 13 suspected gang members were beaten and burnt to death with gasoline-soaked tyres in the Republic of Haiti.
Haiti National Police explained that officers in the city’s Canape Vert section stopped and searched a minibus for contraband and had confiscated weapons from suspects before they were “unfortunately lynched by members of the population.”
A resident who spoke to Associated Press (AP) recounted that members of the crowd took the suspected gangsters away from police, beat them and stoned them before putting tyres on them, pouring gasoline over them and burning them.
According to AP, the suspects involved were believed to be members of the Kraze Barye gang, which translates to “Breaking Barriers,” which is allegedly led by Haitan gang leader, Vitel’Homme Innocent.
THE VERDICT
The claim that the video shows the killing of Igbos over money rituals allegation in Mozambique is MISLEADING; the video has been online since April 2023 while the incident occurred in Haiti and unrelated to money rituals or the Igbos.
This fact-check is republished from The FactCheckHub.
Nurudeen Akewushola is an investigative reporter and fact-checker with The ICIR. He believes courageous in-depth investigative reporting is the key to social justice, accountability and good governance in society. You can reach him via nyahaya@icirnigeria.org and @NurudeenAkewus1 on Twitter.