A VIDEO showing a crowd running after a police van has surfaced on the social media alongside a claim that it shows unknown gunmen chasing away security operatives in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city.
A pro-Biafran Twitter user, Professo Samuel Hero Okonkwo, with the username @SamuelHero6, tweeted the claim with a caption:
“Nigeria Falling Apart; breaking: unknown Gunmen in Abuja chase security men away from boundary between Nigeria neighboring countries. with heavy multiple gun shot.. Shame On #BBC fake News Media, Journalists Without soul,” his tweet, archived here, read.
He also posted the same claim on his Facebook page, which has been shared more than 30 times.
THE CLAIM
Video shows unknown gunmen in Abuja chasing away security men in Nigeria.
THE FINDINGS
When The FactCheckHub subjected the keyframes of the video to multiple Reverse Image Search, the results revealed an incident that happened in Ivory Coast and not Abuja, as claimed in the viral social media posts.
The FactCheckHub found out that the France-based media outlet, LSi Africa published the video on Twitter on August 7, 2020, the same day that some citizens of the country stormed the streets to kick against Alassane Ouattara’s bid to contest for a third term in office as the country’s president.
Using the Google translate service, the caption on the video reads:
“Tense situation in #Bonoua (South-Comoé region, located northeast of Grand-Bassam), where the police are attacked by the populations exits to demonstrate against the candidacy of Ivorian President Alassane”(sic).
Bonoua is a town in south-eastern Ivory Coast.
However, Abuja lies in Nigeria’s North Central region, and it is bordered by Niger, Kaduna, Nasarawa, and Kogi states respectively. So, it is contradictory to say somewhere on the shared border with other African countries.
Further checks revealed that the video had earlier been falsely used, such as here, to depict electoral violence in Benin city, Edo State during the state gubernatorial election in 2020.
Meanwhile, the video has also been verified by the AFP to be old footage from Ivory Coast.
THE VERDICT
The claim that the video shows unknown gunmen in Abuja chasing away security men is FALSE; as findings revealed that the video emanated from the violence that erupted in Ivory Coast in August 2020.
This article is republished from The FactCheckHub. Read the original article.
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 [email protected] and @NurudeenAkewus1 on Twitter.