ON March 12, 2021, Soludo Diaso @SDiaso, shared a photo of a man wearing a Police uniform and several other men sitting on the floor with the caption that it shows an Assistant Commissioner of Police  (ACP) in Nigeria arrested for kidnapping. 

The post which generated over 11,000 engagements did not state the identity of the supposed Police officer.

THE CLAIM

The photo shows an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) in Nigeria arrested for kidnapping.

THE FINDINGS

Findings by the FactCheckHub show that the claim is FALSE.

Using the TinEye Reverse Image Search, the photograph was traced to 2019.

A search using the Google Reverse Image tool in 0.79 seconds produced 295 search results.

From the search results, there was a news report that gave the suspect’s identity as Kingsley Udoyen.

He was arrested on January 2, 2019, for impersonating a senior police officer’s rank of an ACP.

The rank, according to Musa Kimo, a former Commissioner of Police in Akwa Ibom, was used to scam and threaten members of the public.

Kimo told journalists during a media briefing in the state that:

A search in his house led to the discovery of one English pistol without magazine and ammunition, portraits of the Chief Superintendent of Police and Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), three pairs of uniforms, fake police ID card, and other documents from the suspect.

Frank Mba, the Police Spokesperson, in a statement, also described the accused as an impersonator and a fake police officer.

Mba said:

The suspect in Police uniform with the rank of an Assistant Commissioner of Police, one Kingsley Udoyen, male, 56years of No. 3, Stadium Road, Abak, Akwa Ibom State (see attached picture), is a fake Police Officer and not a serving Assistant Commissioner of Police.

Udoyen was later charged at the Magistrate Court, Abak in Akwa Ibom state.

This photo with a similar caption has been fact-checked and debunked in 2019 before resurfacing online in 2021.

This led the Police to debunk it on their verified social media account.

pic.twitter.com/S6pfKxQPqm

— Nigeria Police Force (@PoliceNG) March 15, 2021

THE VERDICT

The claim that the photo shows an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) in  Nigeria arrested for kidnapping is FALSE.