IN SHORT: A number of Facebook posts claim that an unidentified fighter jet has been seen hovering above the headquarters of the Department of State Services, and link the incident to the ongoing trial of Biafra separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu. But there is no evidence for this.
“BREAKING NEWS: Tension in Abuja as reports emerge of a fighter jet spotted hovering above the DSS headquarters where Nnamdi Kanu is being detained,” begins a post doing the rounds on Facebook in Nigeria.
Abuja is the capital of Nigeria, while the Department of State Services (DSS) is the country’s intelligence agency.
Some posts feature photos of Nnamdi Kanu and what appears to be a fighter jet above the supposed DSS headquarters.
According to the posts, the incident occurred after the Igbo World Congress, a sociopolitical group, demanded that the DSS release Kanu or Nigeria would “witness a sign never seen before”. They also said the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) announced that the aircraft was not part of its operation.
Kanu is the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, or Ipob, a separatist group seeking to reestablish the Republic of Biafra in southeastern Nigeria. Biafra’s secession in 1967 sparked a civil war, and calls for its independence continue.
Kanu was first arrested in October 2015 on charges of terrorism and treasonable felony, among others.
He has been in the custody of the DSS since June 2021, when he was re-arrested in Kenya and returned to Nigeria to continue his trial.
Ipob and Kanu’s supporters have been calling for his release, claiming legal irregularities in his detention and trial.
The same claim about the fighter jet was found here, here and here.
But is there any truth to it? We checked.
False claim
Africa Check found no credible media reports about fighter jets hovering above or near the DSS headquarters. Such a threat to the country’s intelligence agency would’ve caught the media’s attention.
We also couldn’t find any statements from the NAF about suspicious aircraft in Abuja airspace. As part of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, the air force controls, operates, and maintains all military aircraft, including fighter jets and surveillance drones.
The image of the DSS building on its website is different from the one in the circulating image, which is a red flag. The building in the circulating image appears to be the Abuja National Mosque, not the DSS headquarters. The image also seems to depict a cloud formation that resembles a fighter jet, not an actual aircraft.
Another red flag is that the link attached to some of the posts does not lead to a genuine news report about the event.
There is no evidence to support the claim that a fighter jet has been spotted above DSS headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria.
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