A video showing some lawmakers at the entrance of Nigeria’s legislative complex in Abuja has circulated online with a claim that the Department of Security Services (DSS) has shut down the National Assembly.
In the video, some lawmakers were seen at the entrance of the complex lamenting over how DSS operatives led a siege there and prevented them from gaining entrance into the Hallowed Chambers.
The video has been going viral in several WhatsApp groups with a claim that the DSS recently shut down the national assembly.
A caption from the footage retrieved from a WhatsApp group by The FactCheckHub read:
“BREAKING NEWS: NIGERIA IS NOW IN A STATE OF ANARCHY/DICTATORSHIP. NATIONAL ASSEMBLY HAS BEEN SHUT DOWN BY UNKNOWN FORCES AND TAKEN OVER BY DSS!”
The video has found its way into the Nigerian social media space. It has been shared by several Twitter and Facebook users with a similar caption as can been seen here.
A Twitter user, @vivoexpresswisp tweeted the video with a caption thus:
“As an ex General, Buhari is a step ahead of rubber stamp National Assembly. Now DSS have locked up National Assembly. How will they impeach Buhari now?I stand with Buhari and Emefiele. Old Naira notes must go!(sic).”
The tweet has garnered over 47,000 views with about 80 retweets as of Thursday, February 16, 2023.
A Facebook user, Lady K Ifeoluwa posted the video on Facebook with a caption that read:
“YAWA DON GAS, NATIONAL ASSEMBLY HAS BEEN SHOT DOWN AND HAVE BEEN TAKEN OVER BY DSS. STATE OF ANARCHY BEGUN.”
The post has garnered more than 167,000 views, over 2,000 likes and about 940 comments as of Thursday, February 16, 2023.
CLAIM
Video shows DSS barring lawmakers from entering the National Assembly in 2023.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is MISLEADING.
The FactCheckHub subjected the keyframes of the footage to multiple Reverse Image Search; the results revealed that the video has been online since 2018.
An earlier version of the video seen by The FactCheckHub was uploaded by Channels TV on YouTube on August 7, 2018.
The video shows some lawmakers stranded outside the National Assembly Complex, as DSS officers stormed the legislative complex.
According to media reports, the masked operatives and officials of the Department of State Security Services who reportedly said they acted based on ‘order from the above’ barricaded the National Assembly entrance preventing lawmakers from entering the complex.
The leadership of the parliament was expected to meet on the day to deliberate on issues affecting the polity and the 2019 general elections and the N428 billion election budget proposal.
THE VERDICT
The video which showed lawmakers being barred from entering the National Assembly was from an incident that happened in 2018.
*This was first published by the FactCheckHub, read the original here
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.