Nigeria Sars protest: The misinformation circulating online
By Peter Mwai
BBC Reality Check
22 October 2020 Africa

Protests about the Sars police unit have been going on for two weeks
Protests began earlier this month in Nigeria calling on the authorities to abolish a controversial police unit called the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (Sars).

The story has started trending globally, with thousands of posts on social media, but not all of them factual.

We have looked at some of the misinformation that has spread online.

The woman protestor whose brothers were not killed by the police

A striking image of a woman called Ugwu Blessing Ugochukwu crying while holding a folded Nigerian flag, and sitting on top of a statue have been widely shared on Twitter.

Screen shot of social post labelled False
The image is real, and she had joined protests in south-eastern Nigeria. But as the image was shared, people started adding misleading information.

"Not one brother...3...on the same day...killed and dumped in a well," a widely-circulated reply to one of the posts with the image said, claiming she'd lost family members at the hands of the police.

When we contacted a spokesperson for Ms Ugochukwu called Gideon Obianime, he told us this was not true.

He said Ms Ugochukwu herself was briefly detained by Sars forces in 2018, but although she has brothers, none of them had been killed by Sars forces.

"I think people started adding assumptions to the photo. She has been getting a lot of backlash [over this]," Mr Obianime told the BBC.

Carrying the national flag will not protect you from the army
Screen shot of Facebook post labelled misleading
This unproven claim has gone viral - that a soldier cannot shoot someone holding the Nigerian flag.

It's been widely shared on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, with some suggesting there's an unwritten military code to that effect.

The claim appears to have originated from a screenshot of a conversation, in which someone says they were told this by their dad, a retired army officer.

Someone replies saying: "I think this is military code... You guys should repost so protesters will see."

However, there's no evidence for this, and some accounts have since deleted their posts after other online users pointed out it was misleading.

Onyekachi Umah, a lawyer in Nigeria, told the BBC there were laws about respecting the national flag, but added: "Just the fact that someone is holding the flag would not mean they [the army] cannot act."

We have asked the army to find out if the practice is not to target any person holding the flag, but they have yet to respond.

However, a Nigerian journalist told us they had asked a former senior officer about this, and had been told no such practice existed.

-No, a senior Nigerian official didn't call the protests 'child's play'

A few days into the protests, a video was posted online showing one of President Muhammadu Buhari's advisers, Femi Adesina, apparently referring to them as just "child's play".

Many interpreted this to mean the president's adviser was dismissing the protests.

Alongside the video was a message: "If you are not angry enough, I hope this video helps you."

But the video is old and has been edited out of context.

It relates to a different set of protests held two months ago - and has nothing to do with the Sars issue.

At the time, Mr Adesina had been on a local TV station talking about those protests. But the video posted on Twitter has been edited to remove the introduction, which would have given the proper context.

The TV station concerned, Channels TV, has now issued a clarification about the video.

And Mr Adesina himself has released a statement , thanking the station for the clarification, and saying that the misleading video led to his phone being "bombarded.... with curses, expletives, and messages from the pit of hell".

The 'fake' shopping mall incident that wasn't fake
A screenshot of a tweet claiming a video was an old video
And now for an example of something being called out as fake that did happen - although exactly who was involved is not clear.

A video showing looting and violence at a shopping mall in south-west Nigeria's Osun state over the weekend became the subject of accusations and counter-accusations about links to the anti-police brutality protests.

The short video was posted by a Twitter account belonging to the All Progressives Congress UK - a group allied to Nigeria's ruling party - alleging that protesters linked to the anti-Sars movement were looting.

But some online users supporting the anti-Sars protests were quick to dismiss the video.

They said it was not related to Sars protests, but from the retaliatory attacks last year against South African-associated businesses after Nigerians had been targeted in South Africa.

Others claimed the video was staged.

From the video, some shops in the location can be clearly identified and we found they match photos posted on the Osun Mall website .

The BBC spoke to one of the shop owners and someone who witnessed the attack, who confirmed it took place.

Also, this mall only opened in December last year, some months after the xenophobic attacks - which rules out the video being from then.

We have contacted the state police to try to find out who was involved in the incident, but have yet to receive a response.

Nigerian Catholic bishops and an anti-Sars protest
A tweet which used an old photo of Nigerian Catholic bishops on a march
A tweet that has been re-tweeted thousands of times falsely claimed that Catholic bishops had marched in support of the protests.

The tweet included a photo showing bishops among a procession of people, most of them wearing black, with some carrying placards.

But this photo is old.

A reverse image search shows it is from March, when the Catholic Bishop's Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) led a protest in Abuja against killings and kidnappings in the country.

The umbrella body of Catholic Bishops in Nigeria has issued a statement supporting the Sars protests, but they have not physically joined in any protests.

Additional reporting by BBC Monitoring's Linnete Bahati and BBC Africa's Yemisi Adegoke

https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-africa-54628292?__twitter_impression=true

The only constant truth in all of this is that SARS has killed thousands of southern youths and the government kept quiet about this for over a decade.

The present government is evil.

The 'pissful' Protesters and those sponsoring them are gradually getting exposed. They will be humiliated in no distant time too.

I am only happy because the few wise ones like us on this forum have been vindicated. People thought we were enemies of progress but now, they can clearly see that we saw what they didn't see coming.

SLAP44:
The only constant truth in all of this is that SARS has killed thousands of southern youths and the government kept quiet about this for over a decade.

The present government is evil.

When you can't prove an issue, you resort to avoiding them round-aboutationally. Give us names of those killed in the massacre, you can't provide any. Now look at what you are typing..

It is true that SARS has killed thousands of southern youths and the Nigerian government is evil.

But more true is the fact that you and people with kindred belief are more evil and should never be accommodated anywhere.

Jesus Christ !!!

Fear social media o

Okay

Gradually the truth will come out.

All the people that were dead online on tuesday came back Alive on Wednesday to debunk the news of their death.

lobatan

I knew BBC and Aljazeera would open this people's case file

SLAP44:
The only constant truth in all of this is that SARS has killed thousands of southern youths and the government kept quiet about this for over a decade.

The present government is evil.

Keep up the good work.

Britain itself is evil.

SLAP44:
The only constant truth in all of this is that SARS has killed thousands of southern youths and the government kept quiet about this for over a decade.

The present government is evil.

no be lie bros

The carnage was fueled by fake news. Sadly, there seems to be no way out right now. Things will get worse as we move towards 2023.

Just as expected BBC and their British masters are shocked and disappointed that their empire is about to go down.

Sars you see what you've caused??
Your lawlessness didn't only cost us it cost you and the government too, Atleast everyone was suffered

Hehe

What happened to the guy whose last words were "peace and unity"?

Many of you shared that post.

BBC is different from Nigeria junk Journalism
EndSars Peaceful Protesters

DJ switch is on the thread narrating what happened live. But y'all created your own fake thread. I guess it's to counter her.
This thread you created is also from social media. So it's fake too.

Good information

A stitch in time...

that some cockroaches have access to social media and going from thread to thread denying that people were murdered during this PROTEST defending people who ran out of the country and left them behind is the height of zombiesm and to think that they are claiming to be the most intelligent, what else can I say

Rubbish! In this internet and social media age, it is to be expected that some mischievous elements will want to fabricate stories for ulterior motives, but does that mean there wasn't a massacre of protesters?
Does that mean hoodlums wasn't paid by people in authority and moved in government vehicles to protest grounds where they caused mayhem?!

BBC element of British distortion and slavery
They will always dish out information favoring their masters company called Nigeria
Britain is the reason Nigeria is still under develop after knowingly handling Nigeria affair to northerners due to their agility to bend to their wills
While making azikiwe the ceremonial imp

What is the truth?

OZOnNengiTheory:


The 'pissful' Protesters and those sponsoring them are gradually getting exposed. They will be humiliated in no distant time too.

I am only happy because the few wise ones like us on this forum have been vindicated. People thought we were enemies of progress but now, they can clearly see that we saw what they didn't see coming.




When you can't prove an issue, you resort to avoiding them round-aboutationally. Give us names of those killed in the massacre, you can't provide any. Now look at what you are typing..

It is true that SARS has killed thousands of southern youths and the Nigerian government is evil.

But more true is the fact that you and people with kindred belief are more evil and should never be accommodated anywhere.

Now they are shouting "shot them on sight" there's one that was shouting "destroy destroy" on Facebook, e shop nothing remain now.
I wan laugh but I hold my laugh

OZOnNengiTheory:


The 'pissful' Protesters and those sponsoring them are gradually getting exposed. They will be humiliated in no distant time too.

I am only happy because the few wise ones like us on this forum have been vindicated. People thought we were enemies of progress but now, they can clearly see that we saw what they didn't see coming.




When you can't prove an issue, you resort to avoiding them round-aboutationally. Give us names of those killed in the massacre, you can't provide any. Now look at what you are typing..

It is true that SARS has killed thousands of southern youths and the Nigerian government is evil.

But more true is the fact that you and people with kindred belief are more evil and should never be accommodated anywhere.

Over 200 cars that belongs to protesters were Burnt in Abuja,who did that?a protester was killed in Benin,who killed him?most of you just opened mouth to talk nonsense,yet after the rubbish you will still go and sleep in darkness..yeye people

Truthteller2020:
Over 200 cars that belongs to protesters were Burnt in Abuja,who did that?a protester was killed in Benin,who killed him?most of you just opened mouth to talk nonsense,yet after the rubbish you will still go and sleep in darkness..yeye people

You must be dumb not to know the answer to the stupid questions you just asked.

seunmsg:
The carnage was fueled by fake news. Sadly, there seems to be no way out right now. Things will get worse as we move towards 2023.

But you at least agree there were was carnage at the Lekki toll gate?

PaChukwudi44:

But you at least agree there were was carnage at the Lekki toll gate?

There was shooting no doubt and it’s condemnable. However, there was no large scale massacre.