Video of residents exhuming chickens buried by Customs old, unconnected with Igbos

Claim: A Facebook user shared a video claiming to be Igbo people harvesting dead seized chicken buried in a pit by Nigeria Customs Officials.

Verdict: Misleading! As reported by media outlets, the incident occurred in 2015, and there is no evidence that the people associated with it are only Igbos.

Full Text

Over the years, hate speech and ethnic tensions in Nigeria particularly on social media, have fuelled divisions and escalated conflicts between various groups, affecting national unity and peaceful coexistence.

A Facebook user, Think Yoruba First, on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, posted a video showing people in a shallow pit alleged to be easterners exhuming dead chickens buried by the Nigerian Customs Service.

His post reads, “Happening: Nigerians of Igbo descent are spotted harvesting Dead chickens that were seized and buried in the ground by Nigeria customs. 

Igbos are spotted in (their) 100s digging for the buried dead chicken to eat over a serious hunger crisis across the East.” he further wrote.

The Post of Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024, generated about 30 likes, 34 comments, and four reposts. 

DUBAWA analysed the post’s comment section and observed that while some users believed the post and criticised the Igbos, others questioned the connection between the video and the Igbo people.

One user, Yoruba Paramount Media wrote, “Yet the b@st@rds online will claim every family in the East (is) a billionaire. Tufiakwa, this people.”

Another user, Gbadamosi Ola commented, “They are the ones suffering it than others,

(b)ut they pretend as if they are living ok”

Mayor Solomon questioning the connection to Igbos wrote “They did not speak any single Igbo in this video… how then did you know or come to (the) conclusion that they’re Igbos?”

Given the claim’s controversial nature and the need to report truthful information, DUBAWA decided to investigate the video.

Verification

DUBAWA carried out a Google Reverse Image Search on some screenshots of the video clip. The results led us to a 2015 news report published by Universal Reporters. The news outlet reported how a community of Nigerians went to dig up a hole to unearth contraband frozen chicken that had been buried by the Nigerian Customs, who had initially confiscated the product from a loaded trailer.

DUBAWA noticed that the image of the 2015 incident is similar to the footage referenced by the claimant.

Furthermore, DUBAWA conducted a keyword search on YouTube and came across a similar video in a report by 24HourNews, published on Nov. 10, 2015. In the report, the news outlet stated that residents of Eleme junction, Port-Harcourt tried to exhume frozen chicken.  Similar videos as seen here and here were also posted on YouTube in 2015.

We went further to conduct a keyword search on Google about the incident and came across related reports by other news outlets in 2015.

Vanguard on Nov. 5, 2015, reported the incident and stated that it happened near the Trailer Park at Ebubu, in Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State. According to the report, thousands of youths, women and children descended on a pit and dug up several tonnes of chicken buried by men of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS).

Vanguard further informed that the dug-up chickens were from contraband frozen poultry seized by the Customs Service in Onne ports.

Ripples Nigeria reported that the Rivers State Ministry of Health warned the public not to eat chicken buried by the Nigeria Customs along the trailer park axis of East-West road.

Urhobo Today and Ship and Port media also reported the story in 2015.

DUBAWA searched for recent reports of Igbos exhuming chickens buried by the Nigeria Customs but found no recent report corroborating the post.

Conclusion

The claim is misleading. Our research shows that the incident occurred in Port-Harcourt, River State in 2015 and is not connected with the Igbos.