NIGERIAN musician, Charles Oputa, has posted a video allegedly showing the recent looting of a warehouse amid the ongoing nationwide #EndBadGovernance protests in Nigeria.
Popularly called Charly Boy or Area Father, Oputa posted the video with a caption that read:
“Palliative when poor people suppose get for Abuja, na em one oga go hide for one warehouse hoping to sell it later. Una no go die better. Dia fathers.”
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The post has garnered half a million views with over 4,000 reposts and more than 8,000 likes as of August 7, 2024.
CLAIM
Video shows recent looting of a warehouse in Abuja.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is MISLEADING, as the video has been online since March 2024.
A Google Reverse image search on keyframes extracted from the video revealed that the video had been online long before the “End Bad Governance” protests began. An earlier version of the video was posted on YouTube in March 2024.
The video was uploaded by Alert Hub Studios on March 6, 2024 with the caption “Hunger in the Land. Another food warehouse looted in Abuja.”
A keyword search on Google indicates that the video shows mobs who broke into a government storage facility in Gwagwa area of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on March 3, 2024 and looted stored food items, Daily Trust reported.
Since August 1, hundreds of Nigerians have taken to the streets to demand economic and political reforms including reversal of some government policies. The protests which began peacefully, later turned violent in many states leading to deaths of some Nigerians and destruction of properties.
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Tagged “10 days of rage,” or “End Bad Governance in Nigeria”, the protests have led to the trending of hashtags like #EndBadGovernance, #EndBGIN, #EndBadGovernance2024 and #EndBadGovernanceinNigeria on multiple social media platforms, especially on X for days. The protest is expected to end by August 10.
THE VERDICT
The claim that the video shows the recent looting of a warehouse in Abuja is MISLEADING; the video showed an incident that happened in March 2024 when some residents looted a government warehouse in the FCT.
Nurudeen Akewushola is a fact-checker with FactCheckHub. He has authored several fact checks which have contributed to the fight against information disorder. You can reach him via [email protected] and @NurudeenAkewus1 via Twitter.
