Claim: A video, which has been widely circulated, on social media shows how a police officer attacked and brought down a gun-wielding man. Many social media users circulating the video claim it was shot in Owo, Ondo state, where unknown gunmen attacked and killed worshippers in a Catholic church on Sunday.
The video is misleading as DUBAWA discovered that it was not recorded in Nigeria and has nothing to do with the incident.
Full Text
On 5th June, 2022, tragedy struck in St Francis Catholic Church, Owa-luwa Street, in Owo town, Owo Local Government Area of Ondo State when assailants attacked the church and killed scores of worshippers.
Gory videos from the crime scene had since surfaced on social media.
Although the Police said they are yet to identify those behind the attack, many social media users are alleging that suspected Fulani herdsmen were responsible for the massacre that has left a yet-to-be-confirmed number of people dead.
While Nigeria was thrown into a mourning state, some social media users have started circulating a video claiming that one of the attackers was apprehended hours after the attack.
In the video, it was claimed that a brave Nigerian police officer brought down one of the Ondo Church attackers.
A Facebook user posted the video with a caption: “Brave policeman caught up with one of them. He looks like a foreigner.”
Going through comments on the post, it was observed that while some users believe the incident actually happened in Owo, some were quick to debunk and query the source of the video.
While Jide Fashakin thinks the policeman ‘deserve a national honour for his bravery act’, Ikechukwu Stanley Okafor said the event was reported to have occurred in Togo and not Nigeria.
“This is not Nigeria and never Owo town. This is Togo allegedly (sic),” he wrote.
DUBAWA decided to fact-check this for security reasons as assailants might still be in the vicinity of the attack.
Verification
DUBAWA conducted a frame by frame analysis of the video using InVid, a verification tool. A reversed image search on one of the results shows that the video had appeared on the internet before the Owo church incident.
The earliest version of the video was posted on Twitter on 3rd June, 2020 in a tweet by Raissa Nouradine Kassire. The caption was written in French.
The English version of the post reads: “A Chadian trader residing in Togo 🇹🇬 killed a gendarme and injured a policeman who tried to control him. The incident happened at the market, the crowd later lynched the criminal, we regret this despicable act. Sincere condolences to the families and the Togolese people.”
A closer look of the uniform the police officer was putting on also shows that it is not the Nigerian Police outfit.
A further search by DUBAWA showed that the police uniform is the same with the Togo Police Force.
DUBAWA also traced a report on the incident on a Togo news website. The headline reads: “A young Chadian stabs a gendarme to death and wounds a policeman.”
Reading through the report, it was discovered the incident reportedly took place at the big market in Lomé, not far from Marox in Togo.
Conclusion
The post claiming that a Police officer attacked and brought down a gun-wielding man in the Owo incident is misleading as DUBAWA discovered that it was not recorded in Nigeria and has nothing to do with the incident.
