AN X user, @ChiemekaEb9240, shared a photo of a man holding a human head while claiming the man in the photo was the winner of a skull mining competition.
The caption alongside the photo read:
Behold Adekunle, the winner of the 2023/2024 skull mining competition. It was keenly contested competition. Congratulations , more heads Adekunle.
The post has amassed a traction of over 440,000 views with 1,700 likes, and 700 reposts.
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CLAIM
Photo shows a man holding a human head as his “prize” from a skull-mining competition.
THE FINDINGSÂ
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is MISLEADING!
When our fact-checker used Google Lens to verify the image, it revealed earlier versions of the photo circulating online, primarily from news outlets. These sources identified the image as that of a farmer who had beheaded another man in Benue State.
One of the news websites, Idoma Voice that used the image in its report stated that the suspect, named Raphael Agazi, and the victim, Ajah Asim, had been in a long-standing dispute over a piece of land. The conflict escalated on Monday, July 13, 2015 at the farm, where Agazi allegedly decapitated Asim, buried half of his body in a grave on the disputed land and fled the scene.
The story was further confirmed by reputable media organizations like Vanguard and The Nation who omitted the pictures in their reports.
“Both men and their respective families have been quarreling over a piece of land that is located around the boundaries of both Ado and Oju local government areas.
“We heard that both men met in the farm this morning (yesterday) and a fight ensued between them in the bush without anybody knowing.
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“The suspect eventually overpowered the deceased and killed him with a machete after which he cut off his head and buried his body in a shallow grave inside the farm,” the Vanguard reported.
THE VERDICT
The claim that the photo shows a man holding a human head as his “prize” from a skull-mining competition is MISLEADING and taken out of context; the image was actually taken in 2015 in Benue State, where the man depicted had beheaded the victim.
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].
