A video shared on Facebook in early October 2019 shows men attacking a building and ripping the Nigerian flag from its mast.
It’s headed: “Beninours attack Nigeria Embassy in Benin republic over border closure by the Nigerian government.”
Nigeria has restricted trade across its border with Benin. But was its embassy in that country really attacked?
Credible news outlets have reported Kayode Oguntuase, the Nigerian ambassador to Benin, as saying the “embassy of Nigeria in Cotonou was never attacked and is not under any form of attack”. Cotonou is the largest city in Benin.
“The Embassy premises and its personnel are currently safe, well protected and free from any form of threat or danger,” Oguntuase reportedly said.
A press release from Nigeria’s foreign affairs department says “the video is an old video of an attack on Nigerian Embassy in Dakar, Senegal and the incident under reference occurred on the 4th of March, 2013”.
A YouTube search for “Nigerian embassy Benin” brings up an upload of the video titled “Nigerians In Their Numbers Destroy Properties In Nigerian Embassy In Senegal.”
Nigerian media reported on the attack on the Nigerian embassy in Dakar, Senegal, back in 2013.
Katyen Jackden, Nigeria’s ambassador to Senegal at the time, said the attacks were caused by an “alleged disappearance of the dead body of a Nigerian from a hospital morgue”.
The video is not of an attack on Nigeria’s embassy in Cotonou, Benin in 2019. It shows the attack on the Nigerian embassy in Dakar, Senegal in 2013. – Eileen Jahn
It’s headed: “Beninours attack Nigeria Embassy in Benin republic over border closure by the Nigerian government.”
Nigeria has restricted trade across its border with Benin. But was its embassy in that country really attacked?
Foreign affairs denies attack
Credible news outlets have reported Kayode Oguntuase, the Nigerian ambassador to Benin, as saying the “embassy of Nigeria in Cotonou was never attacked and is not under any form of attack”. Cotonou is the largest city in Benin.
“The Embassy premises and its personnel are currently safe, well protected and free from any form of threat or danger,” Oguntuase reportedly said.
A press release from Nigeria’s foreign affairs department says “the video is an old video of an attack on Nigerian Embassy in Dakar, Senegal and the incident under reference occurred on the 4th of March, 2013”.
Attack on embassy in Senegal
A YouTube search for “Nigerian embassy Benin” brings up an upload of the video titled “Nigerians In Their Numbers Destroy Properties In Nigerian Embassy In Senegal.”
Nigerian media reported on the attack on the Nigerian embassy in Dakar, Senegal, back in 2013.
Katyen Jackden, Nigeria’s ambassador to Senegal at the time, said the attacks were caused by an “alleged disappearance of the dead body of a Nigerian from a hospital morgue”.
The video is not of an attack on Nigeria’s embassy in Cotonou, Benin in 2019. It shows the attack on the Nigerian embassy in Dakar, Senegal in 2013. – Eileen Jahn
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