By Pascal Ibe

Claim

An X user, @DrDabo, shared a video of a protest in Nasarawa and claimed it was recent.

Verdict

This claim is MISLEADING.
Checks showed that the video originated from the August protests at Marabaa in Nasarawa, not recent.

Full Text

An X user named @DrDabo posted a video and claimed a protest had begun in Nasarawa.

In the post that the X user made on 2nd October 2024, he wrote, “JUST IN:protest begins today in Maraba, Nassarawa state.

The post generated over 200k views, 1.2k reposts, and more than 3k likes on X.

Many people who commented on the post, believed that this was true.

Background

Named ‘Fearless October 1’, the demonstrations have been timed to coincide with Nigeria’s 64th independence anniversary which falls on Tuesday, October 1.

Organizers told local media that rallies would take place in the capital of Abuja, the port city of Lagos, and provincial capitals across the West African country.

Similar demonstrations rocked Nigeria in July and August, with protestors demanding the reinstatement of a fuel subsidy and an end to government corruption.

About two dozen people were killed in a crackdown by security forces, according to activists.

On his first day in office, President Bola Tinubu ended a decades-long fuel subsidy that had helped keep prices down. His government also twice devalued the currency, causing prices of just about everything to jump.

Verification

When this Fact Checker subjected the keyframes from the video @DrDabo shared on X to Google image reverse search, it was discovered that the video first appeared online in August.

This means that it was the video of a protest which happened in August.

A YouTube channel, African Satellite, posted the same video on 4 August with the caption, “Nigeria Protest 2024. Maraba Nasarawa State #endbadgovernanceprotest.

The video was also posted on Instagram and on TikTok in August.

FACTWATCH found a report by Punch Newspaper which confirmed that Nasarawa residents didn’t protest on 1st October.

See other news publications that corroborated this report Here and Here.

Conclusion

@DrDabo intentionally recirculated this video in August to mislead the public.