Were Nearly 500 People Massacred in a Recent Attack in Aba?
On April 19, 2025, a Facebook page Aso Villa News posted 5 photos of different persons and an environment visibility in shambles on the public group, IPOB BIAFRA NEWS 24/7. The post claimed that these are terrifying reports coming out of Aba city in Abia state, as a full scale invasion has started in the city with nearly 500 people killed.
The caption reads: BREAKING: Urgent reports coming out of Aba right now are terrifying—our people must immediately block every road leading in and out of the city! This is no longer a crisis; it’s a full-scale invasion. Scores have been slaughtered—blood is flowing in Aba as we speak. Where is Ohanaeze Ndigbo? Where are our leaders? Aba is under attack. The city is bleeding! Nearly 500 of our people have been massacred this Saturday morning alone. This is not just violence—this is war against the Igbo people. Please share this message now. The world must hear us before it’s too late. This video is too violence to post on Facebook, here is the full pictures 👉 https://da.gd/hw5Q6X
As of the time this report was published, the post had gained 2 likes, 4 comments and 4 shares.
VERIFICATION
To verify this claim, NV-A conducted a related keyword search and put the images up for verification through image verification plugins like Tineye, Google reverse image search and Yandex.
Our search results came back with no recent reports on any killings or attacks happening in Aba city. We only found a 2024 report related to armed men killings that resulted in the death of a police inspector and three citizens in Aba city.
Attempts to verify the pictures in the claims on the other hand came back with various results scattered around different timelines and places with none indicating that the images were from Aba city.
Results of the images:
Image 1 results came back with no link to the man’s identity.
Image 2 and 3 came back with verification of the location.
However, the third image came back with different results when we ran it through Tineye and Yandex, making it difficult to identify the facts of the image. But, an Instagram post from November 13, 2024 posted a video which has still images similar to the second and third image. It was revealed that the incident in the footage happened in Abia state where gunmen attacked and dismantled a military checkpoint in Umuahia.
The fourth image also came back with different results across Yandex and Google reverse image search. A look at the reverse image search result shows that the fourth image has been online since 3 years ago and is not related to a recent event.
Google reverse image results for image 4
Meanwhile, the fifth image first appeared online on X in October 2024 with the same phone camera model caption at the low end of the image.
X post showing the fifth image
CONCLUSION
The claim that Aba is under attack and nearly 500 people have been killed is FALSE. A matter so sensitive would have made the news, but no credible sources have reported on it. Additionally, the images attached to the claim were handpicked from across unrelated social media posts but not about any sort of massacre in Aba city though two of the images purportedly happened in Abia state.
