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.

How Nigeria's anti-police brutality protests went global
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'

Screen shot of Twitter post labelled misleading
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.

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

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

More 48hours After The So Called LekkiMassacre..

We are yet to see anybody , relation , father or mother come forward to claim his/her was killed at the Lekki Toll...

We were really played...

But, My Prayer is that God Would Punish Every hand that knowingly tweeted and retweeted Falsehood and Fake news that led to the destruction of Yoruba land...

They have started paying media houses to redeem their image... shameless people! We know all this Lai Mohammed

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 gaslighting has began

Lagos fell hard into the trap

And ordinary people are about to suffer deep loss for misinformation of few

CNN News desk gave out contacts for victims to report non showed

BBC sent reporters and African correspondence down nobody still showed


Yet Lagos Markets is at the mercy of looters as we speak


.

We are not fools o

God is putting them to shame one by one. They are actually trying to destabilize the country but hiding under #End sars. They are always on social media spreading fake news because of their hatred towards the govt. . These are the "particular people" I was talking about.
Good hearted Nigerians Pls wake up..

CilicMarin:
Ok

how much is your salary?? 30k? Shameless, they have asked you guys to go to work and redeem his image rit?? Where are your fellow Buhari media people?? Work dey oo bcoz the image has been damaged beyond repair

BBC will always protect the interest of their company called Nigeria
They prefer northerners handling Nigeria affair because of their illiteracy and ability to bend to their will
While azikiwe was offer a ceremonial post
Northerners Having taught on how to use divide and rule tactics on southerners to keep them from retaliating or agitating
During biafra war they called all their business partners who took part in killing of Biafrans
So as to maintain their company
Thereby using the minority as the willing tools

athaboi:
how much is your salary?? 30k? Shameless, they have asked you guys to go to work and redeem his image rit?? Where are your fellow Buhari media people?? Work dey oo bcoz the image has been damaged beyond repair

what Jide and the government is doing through the fake news and lies is called GASLIGHTING
Gaslighting: is a form of psychological manipulation in which a person or a group covertly sows seeds of doubt in a targeted individual or group, making them question their own memory, perception, or judgment, often evoking in them cognitive dissonance and other changes, including low self-esteem. Using denial, misdirection, contradiction, and misinformation, gaslighting involves attempts to destabilize the victim and delegitimize the victim's beliefs.
Jide can deny all you want but the struggle has just begun.
they should be ready to kill us all
Nigeria must be better
#endsars #lekkimassacre

A sponsored post by the government.
Forget the long stupid writeup, are you saying SARS officials haven't killed and harrased scores of innocent Nigerians?

athaboi:
how much is your salary?? 30k? Shameless

Guess what?! The people who would suffer for this fake news and propaganda are actually traders whose shops are now been looted accross Lagos without police protection, Computer Village is currently under attack

I hope your conscience is satisfied and you keep making the 30k BMC joke


.

athaboi:
They have started paying media houses to redeem their image... shameless people! We know all this Lai Mohammed

.. You member of the "particular people", God will put you people to shame just like He has been putting you to shame for long. Your evil agender against the govt will fail.
Buhari remains your president till 2023 either you like it or not.

I said it the other day that burns boy was wasting his time by petitioning the UK Parliament to sanction buhari and the federal government for killing innocent people.

Can Satan cast out Satan?

Is there any government that has killed more innocent people and committed more genocide than the British government?

The British are the political advisers of the fulanis. They are solidly behind the fulanis, that is why the fulanis rule with boldness and impunity. Nigeria is their company and they take a huge chunk of our oil revenue each year.

If we must pull out of Nigeria, we must stay away from western powers, we come together, strategize and do the job ourselves.

What do they hope to achieve by bribing media houses.

Luckly theirs no TVC to help spread it. They went as far as to BBC to get a wider audience. The same way they said no one was killed at Lekki only to debunk it later because their was a video evidence.

“Anybody who cannot rise above tribal and religious sentiments in a multi-ethnic country like Nigeria cannot be a good citizen and good leader.
This is the greatest handicap most Nigerians have, and this is Gen. Muhammadu Buhari’s greatest setback as a leader that is making it most difficult for him to lead Nigeria as a whole”.

The Northern elites turned the south against themselves so as to continue using South West to remain in power.

See how close we were to the Revolution or at least Restructuring...

All hopes have now been dashed. We're back to square one.

They continue using our resources to better themselves, we continue suffering.

The blood of the Innocent Heroes shed in Lekki are now in vain. They died for nothing.
Soon they will rebuild the Toll gate and start collecting toll again

I spit on Southerners..

I am a victim myself so is 85% of youths

yoruba1914:
We are not fools o

first they removed the cameras
they switched off lights
they open fire
but they want to deny it
they killed people in Zaria took away their bodies and denied
killed ipob took away their bodies and denied
massacred peaceful protesters waving the national flag and then denied
the BBC IS FAKENEWS

The blood suckers are out in full. They will not backdown until they see enough carnage.

nawao

The power of truth came into the hands of the people already, those live broadcast are no lies. The world knows what happened in Lekki that night, they won't forget in a hurry.

#WorldKnowsLekkiMassacre


-Lloyd

The Social media bill is long overdue.

The violent reaction to the Lekki assault which led to the destruction of lives and properties in Lagos escalated through series of unverified reports shared on Twitter.

Courtesy of Falz, one Debo Macaroni, Yemi Alade etc.

western media has started their propaganda again

teacherbim:
*There are 4 sets of people protesting in Nigeria.*

1. *The hardworking Nigerians who are tired of police brutality & bad governance.*

2. *The thieves, yahooboys & kidnappers who want SARS to end so that they could have more freedom to operate.*

3. *The Biafrans who want the protests to escalate into a revolution so that Nigeria will come to an end.*

4. *Politicians who failed in the last election who wants the present government to fail, #OppositionParty*

*Keep your eyes open whenever you’re out protesting, make sure you’re always with like minded people, so that the fate of the sinners does not descend upon the righteous.*
Copied

This is so true.
********************* **************************
I read this somewhere just now.
Even if it is just one (1) youth that was killed
It is a very BIG issue for some of us with brains and souls,
If it was 7 youths as it was reported by the genuine protesters at Lekki, it is still so sad,
and if it was 78 youths as it was circulated all over social media,
We deserve to know the whole truth as a nation.
So we can know how to table our matter to the international community.
We want to know what is true and what are lies.
We don't need some people fueling fake news on this heated country now.
We are not fighting against Nigeria,
We are fighting for Nigeria.
#IStandWithTheTruth
Some Nigerians are waiting for what is the truth.
#IStandWithAPeacefulProtest.
#AGoodCountryIsAllNigerianYouthsWant
We are not fighting against Nigeria,
We are fighting for Nigeria.

THE LEKKKI INCIDENT: DID WE JUST WITNESS A REAL MASSACRE OR A DEPLOYMENT OF A WEAPON OF 'MASS CONFUSION" IN THE SOUTHERN REGION? – After having reflected all night and carefully looked at all the ‘evidence’ of massacre flying around, I would like to Call for all Nigerians to calm down and REALLY consider whats going on with this Lekki 'Massacre' thing.

I was as heartbroken and mad as hell as all Nigerians a few hours ago and ready to support the total annihilation of our leaders, but something told me to look AGAIN at all the so-called 'evidence' of the massacre being shared all around, and after about 5 hours of carefully reviewing each 'damning' footage or photo I am NO LONGER USRE THERE WAS ANY MASSACRE.

Yeah, I know that will get blood boiling immediately but please let’s all pay attention and then do another review. THERE IS A PUPPETERS AT WORK TRYING TO BURN DOWN THE SOUTH AND WE ARE MISSING HIM IN THE MASS HYSTERIA.


1. MASSACRE AT LEKKI? NOW I HAVE MY VERY STRONG DOUBTS - As Nigeria mourns, I have spent all night reviewing all the evidence of this massacre, and my considered opinion, after reviewing everything I can see, is that someone wants Southern Nigeria to burn but I doubt we are looking at the right culprits.

Something else is going on and I suspect there is a Master Puppeteer at work in this Lekki ‘massacre’ thing and we all are falling into the dastardly plan to unleash violence in south Nigeria

We are hurt and mad as hell but LETS CALM DOWN AND REVIEW EVIDENCE

2. Everyone knew I am a sworn opponent of this lackluster Govt so I have nothing to gain by asking everyone to calm down and NOT assume what is not true (THE FACT that there is no massacre actually undercuts my campaign for #endBuhari so there is no way I will say it if I didn’t believe it.. I do not think there was any massacre at a Lekki yesterday. To join everyone to say there was will be dishonorable on my part because I do not believe it…. Despite my animus to the Govt.

3. Sure, There may have been a shooting and for that, we must hold some people accountable, but I don’t see mass murder. why?

- There are No bullet ridden bodies.

- There are no mothers crying over their dead children

- Everyone seems sure 11, or 30 or 70 people were killed by soldiers in Lekki yesternight, but NO ONE knows ANYONE actually killed personally. No siblings, no parents exhibiting the bodies of anyone. Did the dead bodies just disappear? If anyone has evidence, please attach it here for us all to see. But look at it yourself critically first so you don’t spread anarchy by the error of omission.

- There were no bullet-ridden bodies anywhere. The pictures being circulated of people lying on the ground being shot remarkably had NO BLOOD. NO BLOOD ON ANY OF THEM. How plausible is that? LOOK AGAIN at most of the pictures you have seen. Where is the body?

- Again, There are no bullet-ridden bodies. If there were 11 or 30 o 70 dead bodies, there must be at least 100 people with bullet wounds who didn’t die. That’s a reasonable statistical projection. For every dead person in a mass shooting, there must be at least 10 wounded. WHERE ARE THESE PEOPLE? LET THEM SHOW US THEIR BULLER SPRAYED BODIES. I am not saying people were not shot (and govt must pay heavily for that), but I doubt there was a massacre.

- There is no clear video of shooting at the crowd (the only video I saw of soldiers apparently shooting was a doctored one. On closer look, you will see that the soldiers in the video were not even shooting. and it appears that the shooting sounds were dubbed in, and the muzzle flashes were game show flashes and TOO FAR away to have been from those soldiers we were looking at . LOOK DISAPPASSIONATEY before you crucify me please. Even the crowd in front of those soldiers were NOT even running AWAY. They look like they were just standing and talking to the soldiers even as we hearing loud gunshots and seeing muzzle flashes that appeared in the clouds like a BAD Nollywood film. LOOK!

- There was a video of someone whose brains were spilled on the floor, but everyone knows bullets do not scoop up the brain and deposit it almost intact 10 feet away. THAT CANNOT BE A BULLET SHOT UNLESS HE WAS SHOT WITH A CANNON. Even the conversation by those around the body suggests it was some kind of accident that just happened and not soldier shooting. Watch it again and pay attention.

- There were videos with lots of shooting, but I don’t see any falling bodies. How realistic is that if indeed the soldiers were shooting INTO the crowd?

- We have started seeing videos of people that all of us were made to believe were shot and killed in the Lekki incident coming out and saying they were not even there (Eniola Badmus is one of such. The poor girl as overwhelmed with people already taking wreaths and candles to her house in mourning . Yet, she said she never even went out that day. What?)

4. I know I would be crucified for seemingly coming out to urge caution in our conclusions, but Nigeria is my country too even if I am abroad. My family is still in the southern part of Nigeria and any fake provocation that makes people burn it all down will affect my people too. LETS PAUSE AND ASK WHATS GOING ON?

I SAY WITH ALL sense of a patriotic citizen who is disgusted at the govt but who would not be part of a frame-up as excuse to unleash violence. The agitations of the Youths remain, and they should continue their protests if they think they still have issues to settle but don’t burn down your nation on a lie.

Nobody has killed youths. Even governor Jide Sanwoolu, who must still own the consequence of his ill-advised curfew, but who has been most responsive and honest about all this, just confirmed there was NO FATALITY in Lekki.

I have looked at all the videos of this massacre that I can see, and I can say with all sense of responsibility and knowing that people are sooooo hurt and heartbroken now that I don’t think there was a massacre at Lekki

If it happened , we have not seen evidence of it yet.

5. I also watched the Adeola show on Sahara Reporters she made a lot of allegations but no evidence. She even claimed people were using Chelsea drink and alcohol to remove bullets from dead people, but she laughably claimed she cannot show us the vide evidence becos according to her, YouTube will flag it? Really ? Can anyone really believe that Sahara reporters would be shy about showing pictures or videos of carnage by this govt? that’s another reason I knew them something else is going on here and we are being manipulated by someone or some people to go to war. It’s almost the kind of fake proof Bush gave of ‘discovering weapons of mass destruction in Iraq’ that they used as excuse to take USA to war and cost lives of 1,000s of American lives. WE MUST LOOK WELL BEFORE WE CONCLUDE THIS WAS INDEED A MASSACRE

We must ask ourselves: WHAT DOES BUHARI STAND OT GAIN BY SHOOTING HIS OWN PEOPLE OR EVNE MORE WORRISOME, WHAT DOES TINUBE STAND OT GAIN BY SUPPORTING THE KILLING OF LAGOSIANS BUT A SWIFT END TO HIS POLITICAL LIVES? These guys are a lot of things, but they are NOT stupid. Let’s THINK before we dissolve into anarchy people

Of course, Buhari must still go (he is not physically and mentally able to rule as President. We all know it. But let’s focus on facts, not what the hidden puppeteer wants us to see.

CALL FOR EVIDENCE, NAMES, PCITURES WE CAN USE IN INTERNATIONAL LAW COURTS
I live in USA. I have a robust law firm in USA, And We have already started a petition to get this govt arraigned before the International tribunals with over 60,0000 signatures already but we need REAL evidence that ties Army and Govt to this if indeed there was a Massacre before those bodies can move.

So here is my sincere call out to Nigerians who were there or who were affected by this

- I would appreciate information on the people killed or shot by the soldiers (Names, contact information , addresses if you have it) so we can call them with my team and interview them for the record, for the international courts if this indeed happened. We need these verifiable evidences.

- If you have doctored videos that an objective person can use to say this is actually army shooting at civilians and not just fake videos you have not reviewed thoroughly yourself. End it to info@naijalivesmatter.com

- Pictures on the scene or phone video of the scene. I don’t think any international court will believe that dozens of people were shot and killed by solider with over 50,000 phones present and nobody caught anything on their camera of dead bodies on the floor or the soldiers actually shooting deliberately and repeatedly to kill

- We all want to bring perpetrators to book but stories of ‘I heard them screaming they are shooting at us’ like the respected Pat Utomi was selling on Channels would be laughed out of court. He never even said he saw any soldiers shooting or saw any dead or shot body on the floor. I just finished reviewing his channels interview again. All he said was he heard people shouting they were shooting at us. We all know what happens when the crowd gets riled up . People who were not even in the scene will claim they saw people dying all over. I have seen that before and so have you

Peace out

Dr Ope Banwo
info@NaijaLivesMatter.com

DontBullshitMe:
The Social media bill is long overdue.

The violent reaction to the Lekki assault which led to the destruction of lives and properties in Lagos escalated through series of unverified reports shared on Twitter.

True.

pocohantas:


Succinctly put!! Even I would kill enough with a gun, let alone trained military men.

Have people died for this cause? Yes

Did they die at Lekki tollgate? Maybe

Were they killed directly by soldiers shooting? Most likely no. They scampered, there must have been stampede, injuries- but don’t fucking tell me soldiers shot at you DIRECTLY and you still knew were your iPhone was to do IG Live.

A woman with brain.
You are a very wise person.
I like people that see the truth and not afraid to say it
We are not saying the Army were right, but lies to burn down the country is what we are against as youths.
Look at how many destructions the fake news from Lekki has caused already. So sad.

pocohantas:

Of course it is sad that it got to that and no sane human supports the act. However, I won’t be blackmailed into the circulation of false news, as infodemic causes more harm than good. Look at how things have escalated in few days.

Exactly my point.
May God help us in this nation.
It will end well for us all at the end.


More.....

Even if it was just one (1) youth that was killed
It is a very BIG issue for some of us with brains and souls,
If it was 7 youths as it was reported by the genuine protesters at Lekki, it is still so sad,
and if it was 78 youths as it was circulated all over social media,
We deserve to know the whole truth as a nation.
So we can know how to table our matter to the international community.
We want to know what is true and what are lies.
We don't need some people fueling fake news on this heated country now.
We are not fighting against Nigeria,
We are fighting for Nigeria.
#IStandWithTheTruth

OMOTOLA ask a very genuine question,
A question that shows she is on the part of the masses.
But some fools, criminals, trouble makers being led by one foolish hunchback porn.star hiding in London fueling fire to what is happening in Nigeria are attacking her senseless.
Bastards dem.
What is wrong in Omotola saying family and friends of the 78 people 'massacred to come out and let us have their names?
Instead of all the unconfirmed news being circulated on social media. All the pigs fueling confusion. Hatred, trouble forming as part of we peaceful protesters will all end up terribly. Animals in human skin. All of una and una family supporting u no go ever die better. Na Amadioha go strike una down one by one for all the chaos and crises you caused in the nation.
They even want to go break Ikoyi prison to release their brothers, friends and fathers serving crime for murders. Kidnapping, rape and all manner of crimes, una for try harder yesterday and fight with the army, Instead of running back sharp sharp .

#IStandWithAPeacefulProtest.
We are not fighting against Nigeria.
We are fighting for Nigeria.

Thanks BBC. We would also subject your reports to verification.

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