A former Presidential aide, Lauretta Onochie, has posted a photo showing a woman arrested by Police with a claim that it shows Canada-based Nigerian woman, Amaka Sonnberger, who threatened to poison Yoruba and Benin people living in the North American country.
Amaka reportedly issued the threat while speaking on TikTok live.
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Onochie, who was an aide to ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, posted the photo with a caption thus:
“You don’t open your mouth anyhow in a society where the Police knows their job and work without interference.
“Amaka will now explain to the Police her devious plans to poison innocent Nigerians. She went too far with her #Obidiocy.”
The post has garnered over 800,000 views, with over 3,600 comments, more than 1,400 reposts and over 2,800 likes as of September 6, 2024.
CLAIM
Photo shows Canada-based Nigerian woman arrested for threatening Yorubas, Binis.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is MISLEADING, as the woman in the photo is Georgia State lawmaker, Nikema Williams, when she was arrested during a protest in 2018.
When our fact-checker subjected the photo shared by Onochie to a Google Reverse Image search, the result shows that the photo has been online since 2018 and is unconnected to the Sonnberger’s saga.
The image shows Georgia State lawmaker, Senator Nikema Williams (D-Atlanta), who was arrested by Capitol police during a protest over election ballot counts in the rotunda of the state capitol building in November 13, 2018, in Atlanta, USA.
PM News reported that a Canada-based Nigerian woman, Sonnberger had in a live video on TikTok vowed that she would take poisonous substances to her workplace and poison any Yoruba or Benin person she came across.
“Record me very well; it’s time to start poisoning the Yoruba and the Benin. Put poison for all una food for work. Put poison for una water, make una dey kpai one by one,” Mrs Sonnberger said in what appears to be a virtual meeting on TikTok.
She claimed that her comment was in response to the “hate” against the Igbo. Some other voices could be heard, interjecting and prodding her on.
Her comment sparked public outrage after the video made its way to X, and later caught the attention of Abike Dabiri, the chairperson of a federal agency, the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM).
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She has however been arrested on September 1, 2024 by the Toronto Police Service, Canada and charged for uttering threats.
The FactCheckHub has reported how ethnic-motivated hate speech continues to spread like wildfire on X due to the divide between Igbos and other major Nigerian ethnic groups such as the Yorubas and Hausa-Fulanis on major socio-political discourse on the social media platform.
THE VERDICT
The claim that the photo shows Canada-based Nigerian woman arrested for threatening Yorubas, Binis on TikTok is MISLEADING; it shows a Georgia State lawmaker, Nikema Williams, arrested during a protest in the US in 2018.
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.
