FACT-CHECK: Video of men dragging gun with police operative in 2022 recycled after fresh brutality incident

Introduction

The killing of 28-year-old Mene Ogidi, an alleged suspect, by an assistant superintendent of police, Nuhu Usman, in Delta State on 26 April, has reignited the protests against police brutality on the Nigerian social media space.

Just like how the EndSARS protest began in October 2020, the anger and frustrations caused by the intimidation of the police operatives are growing, especially among the youths.

Although the police officer who shot the suspect has been dismissed, is undergoing disciplinary action and a murder trial is ready to commence, some Nigerians believe that this incident still may not lead to the much-needed reform change in the police. While others are seeing this as an opportunity to dish out many similar video clips which may be hidden from the public.

But by doing so, some social media influencers have been recycling old video incidents of police brutality as present, thereby misleading the public.

Claim

Regarding this, X user, @CrownprinceCom2, has posted a video of two men attempting to disarm a police operative.

In the video, another police officer was seen holding one of the men while the other man dragged another operative to the ground, demanding his phone.

@CrownprinceCom2 claimed that “Nigeria Police are on this one again.

“This is very disappointing. IGP must see this video and something must be done,” the X wrote, urging people to repost the video.

As of Thursday night when this check was filled, the post had already generated over 40k views and thousands of likes.

Verification

But FACTWATCH Nigeria did a simple keyword search on Google, and the results showed that the video clip was from September 2022 and NOT recent.

Daily Trust, a Nigerian news organisation, reported that in the video, trouble started when a policeman, after collecting their phones, tried to read the contents of their emails and WhatsApp, which infuriated the suspects, who grabbed the policeman and tried to disarm him.

Reacting to the incident, then Force Public Relations Officer, Olumiyiwa Adejobi, said, “It is a case of assault on a police officer and an attempt to disarm him. A civilian has no right to retaliate even if a policeman slaps him or her. What the person should do is to report any action against them to the police authorities.

“The suspects will be charged in court accordingly.”

On his part, the former Lagos State police spokesperson, Benjamin Hundeyin, who did not reveal the identities of the suspects on his Instagram page, confirmed that the incident occurred at Mairan.

He wrote: “Investigation is on and the outcome will be made public.”

See the similar report on this here and here.