By Pascal Ibe
Nairaland has published a video of suspected Biafra agitators setting vehicles ablaze in order to enforce a Sit-At-Home directive.
According to the story on Nairaland, a user known as @CabalGeneral shared the video, its keyframes and wrote, “Sit-At-Home: Pro-Biafra agitators burn vehicles and a truck fully loaded with goods in Okigwe, Imo State.
The post gamered many comments on the forum.
Also, an X user, Pastor Okezie posted this same video and asked the Southeast residents to be careful.
His words, “Okigwe, Abia state this morning
“Try and stay safe.
His post on X generated over 112k reposts and more than 200 reposts.
FACTWATCH observed that this video was shared in many WhatsApp groups and on YouTube pages.
Recall that the Biafra agitators issued a Sit-At-Home oder to hold 21th and 22nd of October 2024.
Verification
First, this Fact Checker found a press statement by Imo State Police Command which labeled the video as Misleading.
In the statement by Police Public Relations Officer in the State on Monday, Henry Okoye noted that in response to a recent viral video showing vehicles set ablaze by individuals affiliated with IPOB/ESN enforcing an unlawful sit-at-home order in Okigwe on Monday. The Command confirms that this video is misleading; the incident depicted actually occurred in 2022. Its recirculation is a calculated attempt by mischief makers to instill unnecessary fear and anxiety in the State.
Mr Okoye said the Command therefore, warn against the spread of mischief, misinformation, and fake news, emphasizing that such actions are harmful and punishable by law and any individuals found guilty of false information will be prosecuted.
“The Commissioner of Police Imo State Command, CP Aboki Danjuma urges the good people of Imo State, particularly the residents of Okigwe to remain calm and continue their lawful activities without fear as the Command, in collaboration with other security agencies, is committed to combating misinformation and ensuring a safe environment for all and sundry in the State.”
Independent Check
However, this Fact Checker decided to run an independent check by tracing the origin of this video.
To do this, this Fact Checker subjected the username found on the video to a TikTok search and discovered that the video was first shared by a TikTok user @newyorkcity106 on 1st August 2024.
A further check on his TikTok profile showed that @newyorkcity106 is a strong follower of Simon Ekpa.
The video which was posted by posted @newyorkcity106 generated over 51k likes, 2k comments, more than 3k bookmarks and 7k shares on TikTok.
Many of the comments seen by this Fact Checker indicated that incident occurred in August 2024.
Marching The Dots
Simon Ekpa, a controversial Biafran agitator, on 21 July, declared a four-day sit-at-home across the five states in the South East.
The Finland-based Nigerian, in a statement posted on his X handle, said the illegal order would be enforced in the region from 29 July to 2 August, excluding 1 August.
This Fact Checker understands that the during the Sit-At-Home in Imo State, four policemen were killed, vehicles razed in different parts of the State.
It was also gathered that intense shootings occured at different places in the Owerri metropolis.
See news publications that reported this here and here.
Verdict
Although the findings by this Fact Checker didn’t corroborate with the police statement, but from all indications it can be seen that this video was not recent. So it’s MISLEADING.
