Claim: A news headline outlines that “JUST IN: Buhari Shot Dead By Gunmen In Edo”
The headline is misleading. The Buhari in question was not the president but a driver with Hart land Construction Company.
Full Text
Headlines are crucial in telling a news story. Misleading headlines and sometimes half-truth carved captions have misinformed and even misdirect people’s sense of reality.
Even notably, a recent headline reads, “JUST IN: Buhari shot dead by gunmen in Edo”. It was first shared on PM NEWS and reappeared on ther platforms carrying the same headline.
As expected, the headline drew serious attention from the public who thought the story was referenced to the President, Muhammadu Buhari.
On Facebook, the post attracted multiple comments. A user, Nasiru Mohammed, wrote, “God forbid, death at your door but not our president”. Several other users questioned, “which of the ‘Buhari?”
Another user, James Kamar remarked that “Oh my God, this is a bad way for the president to die. May his soul rest in peace.”
The actual Narrative, not the headline
While the headline did amass traction, the narrative was nothing more than a usual news story.
The Buhari in question was a driver with Hartland Construction Company. Simply identified as ‘Buhari’, he was reported to have been shot dead in Benin, the Edo state capital, by Unknown gunmen believed to be kidnappers.
According to PMNews, two police operatives on guard duty were also shot at by the gunmen, before kidnapping an expatriate worker.
Although the event took place, the president’s name in the headline gave the story rather unusual attention. While some users took time to read the actual narrative others took it as it was; the president is dead!!!
Conclusion
Headlines tell what a story is about. Nonetheless, in this case, the headline is rather misleading as the Buhari in question is not the President but a driver.
The narrative goes to show that many Nigerians are lazy readers. They don’t go beyond reading the caption, which, in itself, is supposed to draw their curiosity and attention.
When the caption says Buhari shot dead in Edo, a diligent reader will go further than the caption to know when, where and under what circumstances, before jumping into conclusion.
The headline has not in any way misled anyone, lack of diligence in reading did. At least a Buhari died, whether “simply identified as” or real name. The bottom line is that he is known as Buhari, a general and common name.
Readers should rather learn to be diligence at reading. Pray, if that were an examination, will they give excuses for not reading to the end to know who the victim is?