By Pascal Ibe

Introduction

Three Nigerian students on Tuesday won gold medals at the Grand Finale of the International STEM Olympiad in Rome, Italy.

The announcement was made by education advocate and Educare CEO Alex Onyia, who sponsored the students’ participation in the competition after they emerged among the top performers at the Southeast Mathematics Olympiad.

Sharing the development on X, Onyia initially wrote, “The wait is over. We have two golds: Chimdiebube Onwubiko and Don Anele Munachimso. We are the best in the world! ”

However, he later confirmed that the third student, Onyedikachi Egejurum, had also been awarded a gold medal, while Don Anele secured a second gold medal in Science.

“More good news. Don Anele Munachimso also won gold in Science. He is the best in world science. Remember, he is the best in IGCSE Chemistry in Nigeria. The investment is worth it,” Onyia wrote.

In another update, he announced, “Onyedikachi Egejurum got a Gold. He is the best in Mathematics in the world Primary Category. This is the beginning of greatness for the country.”

The three students all hail from the southeastern part of Nigeria.

The International STEM Olympiad, held at the Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, attracted participants from more than 150 countries competing in Mathematics and Science events.

STEM is a curriculum based on the philosophy of educating students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics in an interdisciplinary and applicable approach. Rather than teaching these four subjects as separate and different topics, STEM integrates them into a comprehensive learning experience based on real-world applications.

Claim

A Biafran agitator on the X platform, @im_Kolins (Dr Kolins), posted an image on Wednesday claiming to show the three students posing with a Biafran flag.

In the last fourteen years, the Indigenous People of Biafra and other Pro-Biafran groups in Nigeria’s South-east have continued to agitate for the breakaway of five states in the region and some parts of South-south from Nigeria in order to form a sovereign state, which they refer to as Biafra.

In the X post on Wednesday, @im_Kolina claimed that “the Igbo boys that won Gold Medals in Global Mathematics and Science Competitions in Italy seen flying the Biafran flag.”

He added that it is impossible to remove Biafra from the minds of the Igbos.

The post generated many comments of praise from his fellow Biafran agitators who believed that the image was real and eulogised the three students.

Verification

Verifying the image, FACTWATCH Nigeria searched through the X posts of the sponsor of the students at the competition, Onyia, and found that the students rather posed with the Nigerian and United States flags. See the original image here.

This was an indicator that the image shared by the Biafran agitator, was altered.

Also, check single posts of the students posing with a Nigerian flag here and here.

To further confirm that there was no time that the students posed with the Biafran flag as claimed, this Fact Checker subjected the Image to Google Lens and found out that no credible media organisation or social media pages published the image recently.

Verdict

The image, which claims to show the students holding the Biafran flag, was altered with AI from the original photo and therefore, it is MISLEADING