Back to Africa Check

Suspects arrested at Nigerian governor’s inauguration – not kidnappers on notorious road

A video shared on a Nigerian Facebook page shows a group of men lying on the ground, some with their arms tied behind their backs, as men in uniform stand over them.

“Can this be true?” the caption asks. “Kidnappers on Ife-Ibadan Road caught today during operation. Lord help my coumtry Nigeria!!!”

The video was posted on 19 June 2019 and has been shared 6,900 times.

There have been many media reports of banditry on the Ife-Ibadan highway. But does the video show kidnappers arrested on the road?



Union members at governor’s inauguration


In the video, one of the officers can be heard admonishing the men for bringing charms and weapons to an inauguration.

And one of the comments reads: “Fake news sis, they are political touts arrested on inauguration day.”

The video actually shows 29 members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers who were arrested at the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium on 29 May 2019. The stadium was the venue for the inauguration of Oyo state governor Seyi Makinde.

State police commissioner Shina Olukolu later told journalists that the suspects were nabbed at the entrance to the stadium.

He said guns, cutlasses, knives, charms and narcotics were seized from the suspects at the venue. – Jennifer Ojugbeli




 

Republish our content for free

We believe that everyone needs the facts.

You can republish the text of this article free of charge, both online and in print. However, we ask that you pay attention to these simple guidelines. In a nutshell:

1. Do not include images, as in most cases we do not own the copyright.

2. Please do not edit the article.

3. Make sure you credit "Africa Check" in the byline and don't forget to mention that the article was originally published on africacheck.org.

For publishers: what to do if your post is rated false

A fact-checker has rated your Facebook or Instagram post as “false”, “altered”, “partly false” or “missing context”. This could have serious consequences. What do you do?

Click on our guide for the steps you should follow.

Publishers guide

Africa Check teams up with Facebook

Africa Check is a partner in Meta's third-party fact-checking programme to help stop the spread of false information on social media.

The content we rate as “false” will be downgraded on Facebook and Instagram. This means fewer people will see it.

You can also help identify false information on Facebook. This guide explains how.

Add new comment

Restricted HTML

  • Allowed HTML tags: <a href hreflang> <em> <strong> <cite> <blockquote cite> <code> <ul type> <ol start type> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <h2 id> <h3 id> <h4 id> <h5 id> <h6 id>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.
limit: 600 characters

Want to keep reading our fact-checks?

We will never charge you for verified, reliable information. Help us keep it that way by supporting our work.

Become a newsletter subscriber

Support independent fact-checking in Africa.