A video showing mass human movement on streets has been circulating online with a claim that it shows residents in parts of Southeastern Nigeria fleeing from recent attacks led by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
The 59 seconds footage showed scores of people including women and children with luggage fleeing their community on foot as some were also seen on motorcycles.
A verified X user, @dipoaina1, with over 36,000 followers posted the video on September, 12, 2024 with a caption that read:
“Residents in South east community are fleeing from the IPOB terrorist”.
Our fact-checker observed that the video was reposted from another X account with the username: @Aarelatoosa1.
The X user, @Aarelatoosa1, had posted the same video with another caption thus:
“Igbos are running away from South East because of killings by ipob led by criminals Nnamidi kanu and Simon ekpa..
“Their children are on social media making mouth claiming they developed America and UK.”
Both posts have gained traction on the X platform.
CLAIM
Video shows residents of South-East community fleeing from IPOB attack recently.
THE FINDINGS
Checks by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is MISLEADING, as the video is from a 2022 incident.
When our fact-checker subjected keyframes of the video to a Google Reverse Image search, the results show an earlier version of the video posted on Facebook on November 24, 2022. It cited Eha Amufu in Enugu State as the affected community.
The caption on the post read: “People of Eha-Amufu in Enugu State are running away from there village oooo. oh God we need your help in this country called Nigeria.”
Eha Amufu is a town in Enugu State, Nigeria. It is located in the Isi Uzo Local Government Area of the state.
Further checks show that Igbere TV reported the incident two years ago but cited another community in the same Enugu State.
The headline of the media report published in November 2022 read: “Kidnapping In Enugu Communities On The Rise As Residents Vacate Their Home (Photos, Video)”.
“A video shared online has captured residents of Udi community in Enugu State vacating their homes for safety reasons following incessant attack from terrorists in the region, IGBERETV reports,” it read in part.
Even though the video published earlier by both sources has the same visuals and cited different Enugu communities, The FactCheckHub could not independently verified the particular community seen in the video.
THE VERDICT
The claim that the video shows residents of South-East community fleeing from IPOB attack recently is MISLEADING; the incident happened in one community in Enugu State in 2022.
