Claim: A viral video claims Governor Uzodinma’s convoy was attacked by unknown gunmen.
The claim that Governor Uzodinma’s convoy was attacked by unknown gunmen is false. The incident the video depicted took place in Kenya, last year and taken out of context to paint a false story.
Full text
The preponderance of insecurity in Nigeria is no more a shrouded topic. While its prevalence is almost in all parts of the country, the southeastern states seem to have taken the center stage these recent days. From the latest killing of the Presidential aide, Ahmed Gulak to the multiple attacks carried out by unknown gunmen in the region mostly targeting police stations will easily attract the attention of the public. A good example is with the viral video making rounds on social media and other blogs, which alleged that the convoy to the Governor of Imo State, Senator Uzodinma, was attacked by unknown gunmen.
The claim put out a video that depicts a surging pandemonium, as cars and people in the scene sped to safety from the approaching gunshots and multiple tear gas firings. This scene was said to be that of Uzodinma who narrowly escaped the acclaimed attempted attack on his convoy.
Though not entirely surprising, especially with the vivid pictures the video depicted, the claim was widely shared on WhatsApp accompanied as icing on the cake.
The claim, as forwarded on WhatsApp
Such unconfirmed claims wield the potential to reinforce people’s fear and even push unsuspecting members of the society into taking irrational decisions, thus warranting. DUBAWA’s immediate verification of the claim.
Verification
First, DUBAWA took key frames from the acclaimed video and ran a Yandex reverse image search. Results from the query traced the earliest version of the video clip on YouTube, shared on January 18th, 2020 with the description “How leaders were teargassed in Mumias today.”
Mumias is a town in Kakamega County of Kenya. The town has an urban population of 116,358. Mumias was the centre of the Mumias District where a road links the town to Kakamega, Busia, Bungoma, Butere.
The same video was also uploaded by one Othaya GlobalNews on YouTube to explain how some political leaders were tear-gassed in Mumias. So also on KTN News, one of Kenya’s largest newspapers and the oldest newspaper in the country, where the same video was posted on its YouTube channel in a report that lasted for three minutes and forty seconds.
Nonetheless, this is not the first time this same video is married alongside a false narrative to mislead unsuspecting members of the society. A Twitter user, once falsely used the same video to falsely depict how in September 2020 Zulum’s convoy, the Governor of Borno State, was attacked by Boko Haram while returning to Maiduguri from Baga.
Though DUBAWA’s efforts to contact the Governor proved unsuccessful, a report by TVC shares that “Imo State government says the convoy of the State Governor, Senator Hope Uzodinma, has not come under attack from anybody.
The State Government in a statement from his media office described the reported attack as an example of fake news. It said the video making the rounds on social media is not that of the governor and the video does not state where the alleged attack took place.”
Conclusion
The claim that Governor Hope Uzodinma’s convoy was attacked by unknown gunmen is false. The video used to paint the false narrative was taken out of its original context. The actual incident took place in Kenya last year and not in Nigeria. Hence, this claim is false.
