Pictures of bullet-riddled vehicles unrelated to July 2022 attack on Nigerian president’s convoy

 

Insecurity in northern Nigeria hit near to dwelling for the country’s chief Muhammadu Buhari on July 6, 2022, when suspected terrorists ambushed associates of his presidential convoy as it was travelling to his hometown of Daura. While officials verified the incident, no photos had been launched. But at least two Facebook accounts released visuals of bullet-riddled automobiles, saying they had been from the scene of the assault. This is deceptive: the images present former and unrelated incidents from other components of the region.

“This is 1 of the autos in Buhari’s convoy that was attacked by gunmen on the way to Daura, Katsina,” reads a Hausa publish released on July 6, 2022. Hausa is greatly spoken in northern Nigeria wherever the assault on Buhari’s safety team took location.

A publish with the similar declare and identical illustrations or photos, but excluding a shot of Buhari conversing into a cell mobile phone in a motor vehicle, was published right here on Fb, in which it has been shared far more than 350 periods.

Other photographs in the posts exhibit different black SUV’s riddled with bullet holes and onlookers at the scenes.

Buhari’s spokesman Garba Shehu verified the president’s safety progress group was attacked in Dutsinma, about 152 kilometres from his hometown of Daura in Katsina Condition, northwest Nigeria, times ahead of he was scheduled to pay a visit to the area for Eid al-Adha celebrations. 

“Two people in the convoy are obtaining treatment for the minimal injuries they endured. All the other staff, workers and vehicles created it safely and securely to Daura,” Shehu said in a assertion. 

Buhari, on the other hand, was not in the convoy, additional Shehu.

Also, the pictures show unrelated incidents from 2014 to 2021, amongst them the graphic of Buhari conversing on a cellphone, which was published in February 2018 by a Nigerian blog site. 

Shots from distinct functions

Employing reverse graphic queries, AFP Actuality Test uncovered one particular of the main images in the deceptive posts was released by Nigerian online news website Quality Moments on July 7, 2021, in a report about the assassination of a Nigerian official. 

Two other shots (here and right here) had been taken in 2014 when suspected jihadists bombed Buhari’s convoy in Kaduna, northwest Nigeria at a time when he was operating for president. 

Ultimately, the photograph in the bottom ideal of the misleading posts was shared on the formal Twitter and Fb accounts of Borno State governor Babagana Zulum in 2020. 

According to reports, the picture was taken when Zulum visited people displaced by the insurgency in Nigeria’s northeast and who had returned to their houses in Baga in September 2020.