An X user, Nkirukamma (@SabinaNkiru), posted a video on the app alongside a claim that police officers were being chased by bandits in Kaduna state.
The caption reads: “This Country is finished. Look at Bandits pursuing police in broad daylight. This happened in Kaduna yesterday.”
Seems the one minute, nineteen seconds footage was taken from the top of a storey building, as a host of people could be seen running towards a particular direction where some police officers were also sighted.
The police officers were also running ahead with their vans in sight as gunshots rented the air while human conversations in Hausa language could be heard in the footage.
Since the post surfaced online on Monday, November 20 2023, it has garnered over 160,000 views, more than 800 repost, over 700 likes and about 200 comments as of November 29.
The same video was also posted by Facebook user named, George Udom, on Tuesday November 21, 2023. It has been viewed by over 500 persons since then.
CLAIM
Video shows bandits chasing police officers in broad daylight.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is MISLEADING.
The people running in the video are not bandits as claimed by the poster; rather, they are members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) also known as Shi’ites.
The footage was from a protest demonstration by the Shi’ites as a pledge of their support for Palestine in the ongoing Gaza – Israeli war.
The Punch had reported on November 16, 2023 that the protest had ensued in a tussle with security operatives as the protesters were throwing stones and pebbles indiscriminately while the police officers were forced to disperse the protesters with bullets.
Mansir Hassan, the spokesperson for the Kaduna Police Command, also confirmed the incident that took place on Muhammadu Buhari Way, formerly WAFF Road that led to the death of a civilian. He attributed the circumstances to the sect.
“The movement came out today, Thursday 16, November 2023, knowing full well the ban on public procession in the state. They intended to disrupt social and economic activities in the state. They blocked the major roads in the metropolis, preventing innocent and law-abiding citizens from carrying out their daily businesses.
“Our operatives(police), in the process of dispersing them, were pelted with stones and other dangerous objects such as catapults and in the process, one innocent civilian by the name Aliyu Sani (40 years old) was hit and he died,” Hassan said.
THE VERDICT
The claim that the footage shows bandits chasing police officers in broad daylight is MISLEADING; findings revealed that the people in the video were not bandits but members of the Shi’ites Islamic sect as the police were trying to disperse them during a protest in Kaduna on November 16, 2023.
Seasoned fact-checker and researcher Fatimah Quadri has written numerous fact-checks, explainers, and media literacy pieces for The FactCheckHub in an effort to combat information disorder. She can be reached at sunmibola_q on X or [email protected].
