EDITOR’S NOTE/CORRECTION:
*The headline has been updated to reflect context.
A video that shows an armed robbery scene that happened on Bode Thomas Street, in Surulere area of Lagos State has been circulating online alongside a claim that it is recent and linked to the August protests in Nigeria.
An X user, @Atentemente, shared the 133-second footage with the claim on July 28, 2024.
In the footage, passersby could be seen amidst some ruins and damaged properties while someone could be heard describing the incident.
READ: #EndBadGovernance: False claims circulate that protest has been postponed till October 1
Part of the footage’s audio transcribed read:
…This is Bode Thomas street in Surulere where there is massive robbery yesterday, all the whole offices both Samsung, everything broken carted away, the men of police just arriving, everything,everything carted away. This is Bode Thomas (in the background) soro soke! everywhere, the whole shops, individual shops destroyed, everything destroyed… This is Igwe shop, everywhere vandalised, no pin, nothing, this is not the protest we are talking about, this is completely armed robbery, this is robbery, everywhere from beginning of Bode Thomas down to Shoprite, the whole shops all the valuables, nothing is left, everything, this is sheer wickedness…
The footage also had the caption that read:
CLAIM
Video shows recent robbery scene in Surulere, Lagos few days to August protest.
THE FINDINGSÂ
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is MISLEADING, as the video has been online since 2020.
A Google reverse image search conducted on screenshots taken from the footage led our fact-checker to earlier versions of the footage’s thumbnails and video on X.
For instance, a screenshot from the video was posted by an X user, @AyoOyalowo, in November 2020. The image was part of a series of thread posted by the X user on the aftermath of the #EndSARS protests that engulfed Nigeria in 2020.
READ: Video does not show youth’s clash with traditionalists over August protest
When our fact-checker carefully examined the footage’s audio, someone was heard yelling “Soro Soke” therein, which was the official theme associated with the #EndSARS protests in 2020.
Further checks online show that there is no report of any robbery incident in Surulere days to the August protest as such would be widely reported.
THE VERDICT
The claim that the video shows recent robbery scene in Surulere, Lagos few days to August protests is MISLEADING; the video is from a looting scene in Surulere following the #EndSARS protest that happened in October 2020.
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].
