BY TUNDE OMOLEHIN/SOKOTO
CLAIM: A Facebook User, Zara Onyinye, claims that a Bandit Kingpin, Bello Turji, became a Special Guest at the Sokoto Government House.
FULL TEXT: On 21st December, 2021, a Facebook User, Zara Onyinye, claim how a Bandit Kingpin, Bello Turji, has become a regular guest at Sokoto Government House. The comment portrays how some government officials are romancing with the bandit kingpin, thereby aborting the military efforts amid the insecurity challenge in Nigeria.
The post was attached with a picture that illustrates the narrative as thus: “Don’t cry for Sokoto because Sakatawa knows who is doing them. Bello Turji, the bandit leader in Sokoto, is a hero among the locals and a business partner to the political class in Sokoto. Musicians praise Turji in Sokoto, and the bandit leader is a special guest at the government house anytime.
“Sakatawa turned a common political thug into a champion. Now that the chicken has come home to roost, they are shouting Secure North. The same people giving bandit leader Turji information about the movement of the military are the ones shouting Secure North. By the time the thing reaches everybody in that area, una go form civilian JTF like the people of northeast! Nonsense and ingredient! I dey my house if this post irk you!”
The comment went viral on social media, garnering hundreds of shares and comments on Facebook, with some commentators responding in the affirmative.
Image: A screenshot of the claim
Verification: The RMTIMES investigation on the Facebook page of the author showed was a political apologist of the ruling party (APC) with serial biased comments done to mislead the general public and cast doubt on members of the opposition party (PDP) in Nigeria.
RMTIMES further conducted an online reverse search on the images that allegedly showed the kidnap kingpin in a photograph with Government officials, which turned out to be a misleading image. RMTIMES’ research led to a matching image published in 2018, when the Sokoto State Government offered an amnesty and secured a peace deal to secure some citizens held hostage.
By continuing to search for the image, we found similar images showing the same landmarks, and pictures of a group of armed individuals in a meeting, which was unrelated to the writer’s claims.
Conclusion:
The Facebook post has a clear indication of manipulation of public discourse, having identified the user as a propagandist of the ruling party (APC), while the pictures used to perfect these false illustrations were fraudulently photoshopped.
This fact-check was produced by RMTimes in partnership with Code for Africa’s PesaCheck.
