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As 2024 draws to a close, misinformation shows no signs of slowing down. The year witnessed a surge in new claims that have turned out to be false, alongside old narratives resurfacing with a fresh twist, only to emerge as misleading or inaccurate. DUBAWA has debunked numerous instances of this phenomenon, and in this article, we highlight six notable examples for you.
- Image of woman arrested for spending fake notes
Nigerians have not had it easy with the economy since the new government’s inauguration. Some now commit crimes just to feed. This was the case of a woman whose picture went viral in Sept. 2024 after she was allegedly caught spending fake Naira notes to buy food items in a market.
The interesting thing about this narrative was the location where it happened. Several Facebook users claimed it happened in Osun State. Meanwhile, this was a Feb. 2022 occurrence at Kila Market in Odeda Local Government Area of Ogun State.
Daily Trust, Daily Post, and Channels TV documented that N24,000 counterfeit currency was found in her bag. During police interrogation, she admitted to having genuinely committed the crime. Read the full report here.
- Video of bandits threatening Nigerian churches
An easy sentiment is to think that crime actors are illiterates. But that’s not the case in Nigeria, where armed bandits pre-communicate their coming to their victim villages via letters and other means.
A WhatsApp video made the rounds in May 2024 with an announcement that “bandits have sent threat letters to churches in Nigeria to close down, that they own Nigeria and they want to take over their country back.” As disturbing as it sounded, people began to panic and share the message with their families and friends.
Meanwhile, DUBAWA found out the video was filmed on November 30, 2021, in Zamfara when the former Commissioner of Police, Ayuba Elkanah, briefed the press. In the video, Mr Elkanah confirmed the receipt of a threatening letter from suspected bandits instructing Christians to close down churches for three months in Zamfara.
He said that “the letter was dropped at the entrance gate of the state’s police command by unidentified persons.” (Check here for the full story).
- Instablog’s images on ritual killings
In October 2024, a 2023 post from Instablog9ja resurfaced on Facebook, gaining widespread attention. The post featured a collage of three images: a young man, a woman described as his mother, and a police van carrying a wrapped corpse. The accompanying narrative alleged that the son and mother had conspired to kill the man’s sister for ritual purposes.
Due to their virality, DUBAWA separated the images and conducted a reverse image search on each. The findings revealed that the images were unrelated and had been misrepresented.
The young man’s image was traced to a 2019 knife-stabbing incident in Lagos, Nigeria. The second image, showing the woman, was linked to a Ugandan murder case reported on February 20, 2013. The third image, featuring the police van, was connected to a 2022 serial killing incident in Wa town, Ghana.
(Read more.)
- Oba of Benin dancing after the Edo election result was announced
Shortly after the 2024 Edo gubernatorial election results were announced, Tracnews, a Facebook page, shared a video of the Oba of Benin, Oba Ewuare II, joyfully dancing and singing in his palace. In the clip, the Oba is seen in high spirits, surrounded by a group enthusiastically joining in traditional songs and dances.
Using the InVid verification tool, DUBAWA analysed fragments of the 30-second video and traced the original version to a TikTok post and a Vanguard news report from May 19, 2024. The video’s actual context was the Oba’s celebration of the return of lost Benin Kingdom artefacts looted decades ago but now repatriated from Germany.
This is another case of an old video resurfacing to promote a new but unrelated narrative.
- Image suggesting recent mass killings in Zamfara
On June 6, 2024, an X user shared a disturbing image of dead bodies wrapped in white fabrics, claiming they were victims of a recent mass killing in Janbako and Goran Namaye towns, Maradun LGA, Zamfara State.
While statistics show that Zamfara recorded the highest number of violent deaths in early 2024 due to kidnappings and attacks by armed cattle thieves, DUBAWA found no connection between the viral image and any recent incident. Our findings instead traced the image back to an April 2018 incident in which 26 people were reportedly killed in two villages in Anka Local Government Area, Zamfara State.
This case adds to the growing list of old images being recirculated to drive false or misleading stories. (Read more here.)
- Video of Ondo protestants over food inflation
This year, Nigerians have, at various times, staged protests to air their grievances against President Bola Tinubu’s policies, which have brought about chronic hardships.
Around Jan 2024, a video circulated on Facebook claimed to show supporters of the Yoruba Nation in Akure, Ondo State, protesting rising food prices.
Contrary to the claim, DUBAWA’s analysis traced the origin of this video to a rally held in Oyo town in Oyo State as far back as Dec 2022. This happened after the arrest of Sunday Igboho, a famous leader of the Yoruba Nation agitators.
