On Monday, March 27, 2023, a Facebook User with the name Ajoke Omotunde Omotosho posted that President Muhammadu Buhari’s Administration has acquired new fighter helicopters for the Nigerian Air Force.
The full text read thus: “BOOM President Muhammadu Buhari’s Administration Takes Its Military Investments To A New Level By Its Recent Acquisition Of A Number Of Wing Loong II UCAG And T-129 Fighter Helicopters For The Nigerian Airforce. May Nigeria Succeed.”
The Facebook post has generated 6 reactions since it was posted.
VERIFICATION
N-VA extracted the claim, “President Muhammadu Buhari’s Administration has acquire new fighter helicopters for the Nigerian Air Force.”
The researcher went on to fact-check and verify the authenticity of these claims.
Findings revealed that a report published by Taskar Labarai on March 27, 2023, titled “THE ACQUISITION OF 3 WING LOONG II UCAV AND T-129 FIGHTER HELICOPTERS FOR THE AIR FORCE!,” stated that the Buhari administration has taken its military investments to a new level by its recent acquisition of a number of Wing Loong II UCAV and T-129 fighter helicopters for the Nigerian Air Force, an image of an aircraft was attached to the body of the story.
The article said further that the Wing Loong II UCAV are ordered from China, while the T-129 are from the United States of America, and they are expected to arrive the shores of Nigeria at the end of March 2023, after which they will be commissioned.
The researcher used a reverse image search, Tin Eye, to check the authenticity of the image attached to the post and it was revealed that the image has been on the internet for ten years. The search results found 95 similar images that have been used on the internet over the years.
The exact image first appeared on the internet on March 29, 2013, on Pakistan Defence Website and has been used on various websites and blogs.
Also, another image attached to the claim was searched for using TinEye. Results revealed that the image was first posted on the United Press International website on February 9, 2016, and has a Turkish flag painted on the tail end of the helo. Also, a video file of the same helicopter with the same background was posted in 2022, showing the T129 ATAK helicopter in action.
Tineye further revealed during the search for the last image on the claim that the picture has been on the internet since October 4, 2020.
However, a Twitter page with the username @DefenseNigeria which is a trusted platform for military and defense news in Nigeria revealed in a tweet thread posted on January 22, 2023, that, “the NAF to take delivery of three Wing Loong II UCAV and six T-129 Atak helicopters before the end of the first quarter of 2023.”
The Twitter post shared the information using similar pictures as the one used on the Facebook post being fact-checked.
The Twitter user also revealed in a Twitter thread posted on March 28 that the NAF will take delivery of 50 aircraft sometime this year including six T-129 attack helicopters and 3 Wing Loong II unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs).
CONCLUSION
The claim that President Muhammadu Buhari’s Administration has acquired new fighter helicopters for the Nigerian Air Force is TRUE but the images used as an illustration in the claim are Misleading.
