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A Facebook user, Mustapha Muhammad and an Instagram user, Kennedy Samario, have deleted posts claiming that a woman was killed in Niger State for blasphemy after DUBAWA’s fact-check.
On Sept. 22, 2026, Mustapha Muhammad shared an image of a mob gathered around a burning fire, with the picture of a woman overlaid in the top right corner. In the post (archived here), he claimed that the woman was recently killed in Niger State for blasphemy.
As of Sept. 27, 2026, the post had 254 reactions, 42 comments, and two shares. Several commenters endorsed the claim, and one justified the alleged killing. Similar claims also circulated on Instagram, including a post by user Kennedy Samario (archived here).
DUBAWA’s investigation found that the image was an altered composite. The photo of the crowd came from a 2025 mob attack in Agbarho, Ughelli North LGA, Delta State, and the portrait was of Hauwa Mohammed Liman, an ICRC aid worker killed by Boko Haram in 2018.
The Niger State Police Command said the claim relates to an incident in Kasuwan-Garba, Niger State, more than a year ago.
On Oct. 4, 2026, four days after the fact-check was published, DUBAWA discovered that the posts had been deleted.
Before taking down the posts, Facebook and Instagram flagged them as false information following our fact-check.
This fellowship is implemented by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) with support from the European Union.