{"id":15920,"date":"2023-09-13T15:21:03","date_gmt":"2023-09-13T14:21:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/?p=15920"},"modified":"2023-09-13T15:21:07","modified_gmt":"2023-09-13T14:21:07","slug":"mermaid-allegedly-found-in-akwa-ibom-from-birthday-photoshoot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/mermaid-allegedly-found-in-akwa-ibom-from-birthday-photoshoot\/","title":{"rendered":"Mermaid allegedly found in Akwa Ibom from birthday photoshoot"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Claim: A mermaid was spotted celebrating its birthday at a beach in Akwa Ibom.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Verdict: FALSE. <\/strong>The mermaid images are from a Facebook user\u2019s birthday photoshoot in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Text<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In Nigeria, mermaids, otherwise known as \u201cMami Wata,\u201d are renowned<\/a> <\/strong>for their seductive beauty and mysterious existence. They are also identified as marine spirits and goddesses of fertility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Facebook channel, Igbere TV – IGTV<\/a>, posted images of a mermaid allegedly spotted celebrating its birthday at a beach in Akwa Ibom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBeautiful \u2018Mermaid\u2019 Spotted Celebrating Birthday at the Beach in Awka Ibom,” the post\u2019s caption reads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of Friday, September 8, 2023, the post has had 618 reactions, 319 comments and 37 shares.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While many users dismissed the post’s genuineness, a few accepted it as real. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Wow! (B)eautiful,”\u00a0 Israel Nwosu commented<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I was there (live) and have the video,” attested<\/a> Jeremiah Chijioke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mermaids are considered mysterious. However, some people believing the post was real necessitated our fact-check.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verification<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We first observed the wrong spelling of Akwa Ibom as \u201cAwka Ibom,\u201d so we decided to do a keyword search and found that Nairaland<\/a> had posted a similar story.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The popular news blog site announced that a lady identified as Happiness Enekak was causing a stir online for identifying as a mermaid. Nairaland further detailed that the lady had posted the photos in an Akwa Ibom state-based Facebook group called \u201cIbom Crush.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We then looked up the lady’s handle on Facebook and discovered that she had posted<\/a> a similar photo on her platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Screenshot of Happiness Enekak\u2019s Facebook post. Photo Source: Facebook.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

She made the post on November 28, 2020<\/a>. Announcing her birthday, she called<\/a> herself \u201cJane Bond,\u201d a character whom she labels as a mermaid and whose \u201cmind swims at a depth most would (drown) in\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We noticed she acknowledged<\/a> the studio she had hired to take the photographs as \u201cDove Studio.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, we discovered that it wasn\u2019t the first time the lady had visited the location for a photoshoot<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The claim is false. The photos aren\u2019t images of a mermaid but a birthday photoshoot of a lady, taken in 2020. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Claim: A mermaid was spotted celebrating its birthday at a beach in Akwa Ibom. Verdict: FALSE. The mermaid images are from a Facebook user\u2019s birthday photoshoot in 2020. Full Text In Nigeria, mermaids, otherwise known as \u201cMami Wata,\u201d are renowned for their seductive beauty and mysterious existence. They are also identified as marine spirits and goddesses of fertility. A Facebook channel, Igbere TV – IGTV, posted images of a mermaid allegedly spotted celebrating its birthday at a beach in Akwa Ibom. \u201cBeautiful \u2018Mermaid\u2019 Spotted Celebrating Birthday at the Beach in Awka Ibom,” the post\u2019s caption reads. As of Friday, September 8, 2023, the post has had 618 reactions, 319 comments and 37 shares. While many users dismissed the post’s genuineness, a few accepted it as real.  “Wow! (B)eautiful,”\u00a0 Israel Nwosu commented. “I was there (live) and have the video,” attested Jeremiah Chijioke. Mermaids are considered mysterious. However, some people believing the post was real necessitated our fact-check. Verification We first observed the wrong spelling of Akwa Ibom as \u201cAwka Ibom,\u201d so we decided to do a keyword search and found that Nairaland had posted a similar story.\u00a0 The popular news blog site announced that a lady identified as Happiness Enekak was causing a stir online for identifying as a mermaid. Nairaland further detailed that the lady had posted the photos in an Akwa Ibom state-based Facebook group called \u201cIbom Crush.\u201d We then looked up the lady’s handle on Facebook and discovered that she had posted a similar photo on her platform. She made the post on November 28, 2020. Announcing her birthday, she called herself \u201cJane Bond,\u201d a character whom she labels as a mermaid and whose \u201cmind swims at a depth most would (drown) in\u2026\u201d We noticed she acknowledged the studio she had hired to take the photographs as \u201cDove Studio.\u201d Additionally, we discovered that it wasn\u2019t the first time the lady had visited the location for a photoshoot.\u00a0 Conclusion The claim is false. The photos aren\u2019t images of a mermaid but a birthday photoshoot of a lady, taken in 2020. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15921,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"hannibal_claim_source":"","hannibal_source_label":"","hannibal_card_color":"blue","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_bluesky_share_type":"","_mastodon_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[437,1571,123],"tags":[],"verdict":[],"ppma_author":[3699],"class_list":["post-15920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-facebook-checks","category-fact-check","category-mainstream"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8R6dE-48M","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"authors":[{"term_id":3699,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"cole-praise","display_name":"Cole Praise","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7934b84f51e2c1f4c1e77cce93c223ac97cc2da29198aa9141fd944b0407bb2d?s=96&r=g","author_category":"","user_url":"","last_name":"","first_name":"","job_title":"","description":""}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/mermaid.jpg?fit=692%2C1037&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15920"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15920\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15922,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15920\/revisions\/15922"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15920"},{"taxonomy":"verdict","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/verdict?post=15920"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=15920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}