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| - A VIDEO showing crowd running after a police van has surfaced on social media alongside a claim that it shows unknown gunmen chasing away security operatives in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.
A pro-Biafran Twitter user, Prof. 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.
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He also posted the same claim on his Facebook page which has been shared more than thirty times.
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 the south-eastern Ivory Coast.
END: How information disorder heightens tension, confuses public during crisis
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.
Nurudeen Akewushola is a fact-checker with FactCheckHub. He has authored several fact checks which have contributed to the fight against information disorder. You can reach him via [email protected] and @NurudeenAkewus1 via Twitter.
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