A video showing a Nigerian couple allegedly arrested in the United States for killing their child has resurfaced online.
The video, shared by an X user, @SizweBansi, claimed that the incident involved a Yoruba couple from Southwestern Nigeria.
The X user posted thus:
“Breaking : Yoruba couple, Olawusi Olalekan and Arinola, have been arrested for murdering their child. Olawusi, a Yoruba man from Southwest Nigeria, and his wife are now listed among the 15 most wanted fugitives in the United States.”
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The post has garnered over 200,000 views plus more than 700 reposts over 1,000 likes as of January 23, 2025.
CLAIM
A Nigerian couple of Yoruba extraction arrested recently in the US for killing their child.
THE FINDINGS
Checks by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is MISLEADING, as the incident occurred in 2017 and not breaking or recent as claimed in the X post.

The Yoruba is one of the major ethnic nationalities in Nigeria, predominantly located in the country’s southwestern region. They can be found mostly in states like Lagos, Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Ondo, Ekiti and parts of Kwara and Kogi states etc.
Our fact-checker has observed overtime that there’s a growing divide between members of the Igbo extraction and their Yoruba counterparts (majorly from Southwestern Nigeria) on X. This has fueled ethnic-motivated misinformation on the social media platform which has been fact-checked by this medium multiple times as seen here, here and here. Such misinformation trends have been projected to rock Nigeria’s information ecosystem in 2025.
A simple keyword search on Google for “Olawusi Olalekan and Arinola” reveals that the incident was first reported in 2017.
According to a Punch newspaper report published on April 7, 2017, Arinola Olawusi (aged 33) and Olalekan Olawusi (40) were arrested in Providence, Rhode Island, after their three-month-old baby, Tobi, was found critically injured and unconscious with fractures in his arms, legs, and skull.
NBC-affiliated station WJAR reported that the police charged Arinola with cruelty and neglect, while Olalekan faced charges of first- and second-degree child abuse. The couple later fled the U.S. in 2020.
In November 2017, the baby, who had been on life support since April, died at Hasbro Children’s Hospital.
The video and accompanying claim has now been recirculated in 2025 by the X user who falsely suggested that the incident occurred recently, specifically targeting the Yoruba ethnic group in what a legal counsel termed “hate speech”.
Speaking with The FactCheckHub, a Nigerian lawyer, Abdulwasiu Mujeeb noted that the post fell under the category of hate speech due to how it incited people against the Yoruba ethnic group.
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He said: “First, we need to understand the foundation. In Nigeria currently, there is no any holistic act or enactment directly prohibiting hate speech but that doesn’t mean there’s no law or there is no section in any particular enactment or whatsoever that prohibited it.
“For instance, the National Broadcasting Code 2016, talked about transmission of hate speech. There are also some particular sections in the Nigerian constitution prohibiting incitement of violence or breaching of public peace. These are things that can regulate hate speech in Nigeria whether there’s direct enactment or not.”
Mujeeb noted that the first attempt to criminalize hate speech in Nigeria was in 2019 with the introduction of the Hate Speech Bill, although it failed to pass at the National Assembly.
He explained that, according to the bill and some sections of the NBC Code, hate speech is defined as attempts to create obnoxious content, incite violence or hatred against specific tribes, or breach public peace through statements, tweets, and other actions.
He explained that the key criterion for identifying hate speech in this case is determining whether a statement is directed at a particular tribe. While such statements should not naturally qualify as hate speech, he observed that the post and subsequent comments clearly targeted the Yoruba tribe.

He cited the example where the individual posted, “This is a Yoruba woman praying for their child to become a criminal at their child dedication. This will help you understand better who these people are.”
Mujeeb further noted that the same individual continued with another post stating, “Nigerians are not the same. There are particular tribes that specialize in all forms of criminality, and they are Yorubas.”
“So, it’s sufficient to say the definition of hate speech in these laws that we mentioned earlier has captured what the person has posted. The fact that some Yoruba people did something bad or committed a crime doesn’t mean all Yorubas do that. So, it suffices to say it’s hate speech.
“When you look at the comment under the post, you will realise that the person has been caught under the web of the definition. He has successfully incited violence against a tribe judging by how the people in the comment section are directing their comments towards Yoruba people,” he said.
THE VERDICT
The claim that a Nigerian couple of Yoruba extraction have been arrested recently for killing their child is MISLEADING; the incident occurred in 2017 and has been deliberately recirculated on X to malign the Yoruba ethnic group.
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.