By Pascal Ibe

Claim

An X user, @SavvyRinu, shared an image of dilapidated houses alongside the claim that this is the current state of Nigerian police barracks.

Verdict

This claim is MISLEADING. An investigation showed that the photo shared by the X user was from Uganda in 2017.

Full Text

It is believed that Nigerian policemen are also victims of the current severe economic conditions in the country, yet they continue to go after citizens who protest to demand better governance and accountability from the leaders.

In recent times, Security operatives, especially the police, have been seen using harsh methods to disperse protesters in Nigeria. They also go to the extent of arresting these citizens for protesting

Regarding this, an X user, @SavvyRinu, has shared an image of dilapidated houses alongside the claim that this is the current state of Nigerian police barracks.

The X user posted the photo with a caption that reads, “Self-contained Apartments of police officers killing peaceful protesters demonstrating against bad governance.“

The post has already generated over 90k views and more than 1k reposts with 3.5k likes, according to X analytics.

Verification

A simple Google Image Reverse Search showed that this image was posted on Facebook in 2017 by Uganda Youth Freedom Fighters against violence, a human rights group in Uganda.

In 2019, a Ugandan online news organization, ChimpReports, published this picture as a Feature Image in a report of the death of yet to be identified Makerere University student who was electrocuted by electricity at Naguru Barracks.

Naguru Police Barracks is located in Kampala, Uganda.

The publication established that the deceased was a finalist at MUK, and the son of a one AIP Okello Richard, also a resident of the Barracks.

This same photo was shared in 2020 on Facebook by another Ugandan news organization.

In 2012, an annual report from the Uganda Auditor General’s office revealed that the welfare of the Uganda Police Force in terms of accommodation is still lacking. The office discovered that only 24 per cent of entitled officers were provided with accommodation in Uganda.

Some officers who are not entitled to staff accommodation continued to occupy houses in the barracks, thereby aggravating the housing shortage.

Conclusion

The X user recirculated an old image from Uganda, which first appeared online in 2017, to depict the current condition of Nigeria’s police houses. Therefore, this claim is MISLEADING