By Pascal Ibe
Introduction
In Nigeria,. content creation for money is the goal of many Nigerians, and they go to any lengths to grow their pages.
From Facebook to Instagram, TikTok, and then on the X platform, some Nigerians deliberately push disinformation, outrageous content or even continuous defamation of popular people or politicians to gain attention or boost their traffic to gain monetisation.
Over the years, many social media influencers have been arrested and arraigned in court over these cybercrimes.
About two weeks ago, Anulika Onyeanusia, a 36-year-old woman in Anambra State, Nigeria’s South-east, went viral on the Nigerian social media space for allegedly using a sex toy on her underage daughter.
The content creator, whose disturbing videos trended across many platforms, has been said to be sharing the child sexual abuse material on Olamet, a video chat platform.
Claim
However, an X user, @NwaAdaIgbo claimed that the woman has been sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment.
The X user posted (archived here) an image which claims to show Onyeanusia in court, alongside the caption, “She has been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment”
The post, which has generated over 300,000 views as of Sunday morning, had comments suggesting that many people thought the claim was true.
See some of the comments here and here.
Verification
First, the police in Anambra State confirmed that they have arrested the woman and that she is being investigated for child pornography.
The police spokesperson in the state, Tochukwu Ikennga, said the arrest led to the rescue of four children, aged 2, 3, 6 and 9 years respectively, as well as the recovery of sex toys and other incriminating items.
The suspect, in another video, admitted that she earned $700 from posting her children’s pornographic video on social media.
However, the police and the Anambra State Government have yet to announce Onyeanusia’s arraignment in court.
A check on the official Facebook page of the police in the state and the website of the state government showed there is no news of her being charged in court, let alone her being “sentenced to 10 improvement.”
Also, there is no report by credible news websites corroborating the claim as of 20 September.
FACTWATCH Nigeria observed that the image of the woman in court was AI-generated.
Verdict
Simple findings indicated that the claim that the woman in the news for allegedly using sex toys on her daughter has been sentenced to 10 years ‘ imprisonment is FALSE.
