A report by online news outlet Jamyco claims the governments of the United States and Russia have pledged to support the separation of south-eastern Nigeria to form the independent state of Biafra.
The report has been shared dozens of times by a number of Facebook pages, most of them supporters of Biafra. It includes a photo of US President Donald Trump with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
It says “US political expert, Michael Kerry” believes Biafra lost the 1967-1970 civil war because its then leader Chukwuemeka Ojukwu did not agree to a deal with Russia.
It adds that the door is “still open” and the US and Russia are “ready” to help Biafra secede in exchange for its oil “for five years”, according to a “Biafran newspaper”.
A Google search couldn’t find a US political expert named Michael Kerry. The link on “Michael Kerry” in the report leads to another Jamyco article that claims the Chinese government is also backing Biafra.
The link on “Biafran newspaper” leads to yet another Jamyco story, this one saying Putin had endorsed Biafra.
A reverse image search shows the photo in the report was taken in July 2017, when Trump and Putin met at a G20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany.
A search for “Biafra” in US Department of State press releases returns no results. And if the claim of US and Russian support for Biafra were true, it would be a serious diplomatic issue widely reported by mainstream international media. – Allwell Okpi (14/03/19)
The report has been shared dozens of times by a number of Facebook pages, most of them supporters of Biafra. It includes a photo of US President Donald Trump with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
It says “US political expert, Michael Kerry” believes Biafra lost the 1967-1970 civil war because its then leader Chukwuemeka Ojukwu did not agree to a deal with Russia.
No ‘Michael Kerry’ found
It adds that the door is “still open” and the US and Russia are “ready” to help Biafra secede in exchange for its oil “for five years”, according to a “Biafran newspaper”.
A Google search couldn’t find a US political expert named Michael Kerry. The link on “Michael Kerry” in the report leads to another Jamyco article that claims the Chinese government is also backing Biafra.
The link on “Biafran newspaper” leads to yet another Jamyco story, this one saying Putin had endorsed Biafra.
A reverse image search shows the photo in the report was taken in July 2017, when Trump and Putin met at a G20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany.
A search for “Biafra” in US Department of State press releases returns no results. And if the claim of US and Russian support for Biafra were true, it would be a serious diplomatic issue widely reported by mainstream international media. – Allwell Okpi (14/03/19)
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