Contrary to online reports, no Nigerian killed lion with bare hands

Taiwo Fatola

Claim: There have been online and blog reports that a Nigerian killed a lion with his bare hands.

Verdict: False.

Full Text

Following the record-a-thon frenzy by Nigerians after the iconic Hilda Baci broke the world record for the longest cooking marathon, a Facebook page, “9ja Celebrity News,” alleged that a man from Akure killed a lion with his hands.

In the news, published on July 11, 2023, the page administrator commented that it is a feat deserving of a Guinness World Record recognition.

“Where is the Guinness World records book? The man breaks a Samson record. He defeated a lion while he was on his farm, the lion attacked him, but he defeated the lion with his bare hands, a brave man from Akure, Ondo State (sic).” The post, accompanied by pictures of a grievously injured man and a dead lion, reads.

The post generated over 7,000 likes and about 1,000 comments and has been shared by about 2,000 Facebook users. All the commenters appeared to have believed the story as they took turns to congratulate the man and wish him a quick recovery from his injuries.

A similar story was found to have been circulated online by blogs shortly before 9ja Celebrity News’ post. The post featured prominently on many blogs, including Idoma Voice and New Telegraph. However, the blog story claimed that one Lorver Udele from Kwande, Benue State confronted the beast on his cassava farm and killed the big cat as the biblical Samson did. The accompanying pictures were similar to that of the 9ja Celebrity News post.

Did a Nigerian man kill a lion in Ondo or Benue State?

Verification

Checks by DUBAWA show that a Twitter user Yawis (@yawisonline), first shared the pictures with the caption, “Meanwhile in Uganda, this man wrestled and killed a lion,” on April 9, 2022.

However, in a statement released on the same day, the Uganda Wildlife Authority clarified that the incident involving a stray lion had happened a day earlier in the Kagadi District of the Country. 

In the statement, the UWA said: “One UPDF soldier, Cpl Amodoi Moses sighted the lion and tried to shoot it, but it jumped on him, seriously injuring him. Another UPDF soldier nearby shot the lion dead to save his colleague.”

The statement added that UWA sympathised with the injured and pledged to support the injured with medical care. @yawisonline would later tweet the UWA statement to clarify his earlier tweet where he had claimed that Cpl Amodoi Moses wrestled and killed the lion.

Conclusion

The claim that a Nigerian man fought and killed a lion is false. Checks have shown that the allegedly shared image in the Nigerian media space as a man from Ondo or Benue State is wrong. The image is that of Cpl Amodoi Moses of the Ugandan People’s Defence Force, and the event that led to his injury occurred in April 2022.