By Pascal Ibe

Claim

As wide outrage by Nigerians over the killing of 52 villagers in Bokkos Local Government Area of Plateau State continues, Facebook users have shared a video showing angry residents dumping corpses of loved ones at the State’s government house and claimed that it was after the recent killings by bandits last week.

A Facebook user, Victor Ifeanyi Ugwu shared the video and claimed, “HAPPENING LIVE IN PLATEAU STATE, PEOPLE HAVE DECIDED TO CARRY SOME D!AD BODIES K£..LLED BY HERDSMEN TO THE GATE OF THE GOVERNMENT HOUSE.

“THIS IS SO SYMPATHETIC.

Another Facebook user, Leo Etu Mowang forwarded this same video to a Facebook group.

FactWatch Nigeria observed that the video has been distributed to many WhatsApp groups since this week.

A screenshot of the video that was forwarded many times to WhatsApp groups.

Background

Last week, gunmen killed at least 52 people and displaced nearly 2,000 others over several days of attacks in Nigeria’s northern Plateau state, which has a history of violence between farmers and cattle herders, the national emergency agency said.

The reason for the attacks in six villages in Plateau’s Bokkos district last week was not immediately known but it is the worst outbreak of violence since December 2023, when more than 100 people were killed in the same district..

Verifying this claim

However, this Fact Checker did a simple keyword search on Google and discovered that the video appeared online first in August 2021. This followed an attack on Yelwan Zangam village in Jos North Local Government Area of the state.

According to DailyTrust, the protest by hundreds of angry youths was the aftermath of an attack on Yelwan Zangam, a community inhabited by the Anaguta ethnic group on the outskirts of Jos, the state capital.

There are many versions of the night raid which community leaders said claimed 37 lives.

See the similar publication of this here and here.

This video was also published on Facebook in 2021 here.

Verdict

This claim is MISLEADING. Facebook and WhatsApp users intentionally recirculated an old video in 2021 to depict the recent killings in Plateau State.