|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Claim: A Facebook user shared a video showing several people scampering for free bread, claiming it was in Ogun State, Nigeria.
Verdict: Misleading! The video was taken out of context. Although the incident did happen, the timing and location are misleading. The video is about an incident in 2024 in India during the Muharram festival. It is not related to Nigeria or Ogun State.
Full Text
Since May 9, 2023, Nigeria has experienced economic turmoil following President Bola Tinubu’s removal of fuel subsidies, causing Nigerians to witness a terrible financial crisis.
With this backstory, Facebook user Ofori Romeo shared a 13-second clip showing an excited crowd falling off a damaged roof, claiming it was filmed in Nigeria.
The post, shared on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025, further mentioned that the people involved were Nigerians scampering for free bread at a factory in Ogun State, the Southwest region of the country.
The claimant’s caption reads, “A bakery at Ogun announced that they are giving bread for free. So, because of the ‘Ebinpawa’ pandemic in Yoruba land in the South West, the crowd was too much to control. People climbed on the bakery roof just to beg for bread, and they ended up destroying the building.”
DUBAWA decided to carry out this fact-check as part of its effort to counter misinformation and disinformation on social media platforms.
Verification
A Google Reverse Image Search of some keyframes of the video clip led us to similar videos on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram shared in 2024.
The Facebook video shared on Aug. 10, 2024, was a reverse flip of the claimant’s video, showing the bakery on the right side of the video instead of on the left, as seen in the claimant’s post.
Meanwhile, an Instagram video shared earlier on July 18, 2024, by an Indian-based blog shows the exact video. It has a watermark that reads “Ballari: Tragedy during Muharram celebration,” depicting the story surrounding the video.
Similarly, the YouTube video shared on July 19, 2025, captioned the same video as an incident at Bellary Muharram in 2024.
Using this information, we conducted a keyword search on the Muharram celebration in 2024. According to media reports, Muharram, which means “forbidden,” is a feast celebrated yearly to mark the beginning of the new Islamic year in India.
According to a report by ThePrint, four people were killed and 26 injured by a roof collapse during the Muharram celebration in 2024 in separate incidents, while tazia processions were carried out in Muharram in some districts of the country.
Meanwhile, The New Indian Express, Press Trust of India, and Telegraph India reported a similar story in July 2024.
Tazia processions take place during Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar, particularly by Shia Muslims, in remembrance of Imam Hussain, the grandson of Muhammad, who was killed in the Battle of Karbala in 680 CE.
Furthermore, a search for any incidents of Nigerians scrambling for bread in Ogun State yielded no results.
Conclusion
The video in question was not filmed in Nigeria, as claimed. DUBAWA’s research reveals that it is related to a ceremonial procession in India in July 2024.
