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Claim: Simon Ekpa, leader of IPOB, shared three images of firearms purportedly seized from police officers after a gunfight.
Verdict: Images of guns were sourced from old publications and social media posts. The claim is false.
Full Text
Simon Ekpa, a factional leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), recently posted three images of different firearms on his Facebook and X handles, with a claim that they were recovered from the Nigerian police officers, after a gun duel with secessionists.
He wrote: “BREAKING The Biafra Resistance Fighters has neutralised many terrorist @PoliceNG who came to kill Biafrans as usual, send them to God and recovered many weapons including explosives. We continue to demand the total withdrawal of all Nigeria’s “security” forces from Biafra territory as they are all terrorists killing our women and children. #BiafraSelfReferendum2024.”
The post has since gone viral as many other Facebook users have shared, it as seen here, here, here, here, here and here.
Mr Ekpa is known for putting forth claims of this nature, and each time he does so, his followers actively disseminate them across various platforms. DUBAWA has not found any rebuttal from the police. Nevertheless, we conducted this verification due to the viral and sensitive nature of the post.
Verification
We conducted a reverse image search on each of the images. Contrary to Mr Ekpan’s claim, the first photograph has been online since Jan. 1, 2023. It was shared on X by one Zagazola, who claimed that they were weapons retrieved from Boko Haram terrorists by “Special Forces.” of the army. The operation leading to this recovery allegedly occurred along Damboa Road in Borno state.
The second image was taken from an Oct. 23, 2018, US blog post. The blogger, who had just bought new weapons, visited the website to share his excitement. In his words, he said:
“Saw these out Sportsman’s Outdoors Superstore and picked up one before they went almost immediately out of stock. They are classic 1970s/80s-era Remington 870 Wingmaster 12 gauge Police models with a groovy Ohio National Guard “ONG” stamp and state overlay. . .”
DUBAWA found the third image in a 2017 publication of Premium Times newspaper, headlined, “Nigerian soldiers kill 14 terrorists, rescue 30 hostages – Army.” The firearms in this image were recovered during this operation.
Conclusion
All the images used in Mr Ekpa’s post were sourced from old online publications. This renders his claim false.
