A video circulating online shows a soldier shooting himself in the mouth and spitting out the bullets, with the claim the man is an “Amotekun officer”.
In a version shared on Africa Check Nigeria’s Facebook page, the video includes a caption saying “Amotekun on display”. The video was also shared on Facebook in February 2020.
Operation Amotekun, also known as the Western Nigeria Security Network, is a new government security plan to tackle kidnapping and other criminal activities in Nigeria’s South West geopolitical zone.
The South West is mostly populated by Yoruba people, one of the country’s three largest ethnic groups.
A Google reverse image search shows that the video has been shared several times since mid-2019.
Operation Amotekun was launched on 9 January 2020, after several meetings between South West governors. So a video posted some six months before the launch couldn’t show an “Amotekun officer”.
The soldier in the video is yet to be identified. But his uniform is not that of Amotekun soldiers: their uniform is brown. – Jennifer Ojugbeli
In a version shared on Africa Check Nigeria’s Facebook page, the video includes a caption saying “Amotekun on display”. The video was also shared on Facebook in February 2020.
Operation Amotekun, also known as the Western Nigeria Security Network, is a new government security plan to tackle kidnapping and other criminal activities in Nigeria’s South West geopolitical zone.
The South West is mostly populated by Yoruba people, one of the country’s three largest ethnic groups.
Video six months older than Operation Amotekun
A Google reverse image search shows that the video has been shared several times since mid-2019.
Operation Amotekun was launched on 9 January 2020, after several meetings between South West governors. So a video posted some six months before the launch couldn’t show an “Amotekun officer”.
The soldier in the video is yet to be identified. But his uniform is not that of Amotekun soldiers: their uniform is brown. – Jennifer Ojugbeli
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