CLAIM: Cameroonian Army Arrests 8 French Soldiers Fighting Boko Haram – social media post
CONCLUSION: FALSE!
EVIDENCE: A quick google reverse image of the picture shows that it is an old photo, about 11 years old
FULL TEXT:
On March 29, 2019, Dubawa’s attention was brought to an image fast circulating on social media with its caption written in French: “Larmee Camerounaise arrete 8 soldats Francais combattant de Boko Haram“
HOW WE CARRIED OUT THE VERIFICATION:
We, first, used google translator to translate the French caption to English and it actually means: “Cameroonian Army Arrests 8 French Soldiers Fighting Boko Haram”.
Next, we did a Google Image Reverse Search of the picture and it turns out that the original picture was taken as far back as 2008, that is 11 years ago! The picture was used for the story of Simon Mann, former SAS soldier, who tried to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea in a coup d’etat. Mr Mann faced a life sentence on charges of “terrorist conspiracy and attempts to murder the president”.
Using the same picture and claiming that the event happened in Nigeria is a clear case of disinformation (deliberate propagating of false information with an intent to cause harm), and is entirely FALSE!
Nigerians have been through disheartening emotions since the emergence of Boko Haram – from indifference to anguish to hope and back to hopelessness. It is just not right or fair to undermine or exaggerate the crisis!
We have an extensive article on why social media users should do due diligence before posting pictures online. You should check it out.
