On December 10, an X user, @agnes_nwanneka posted a video with the claim that Yoruba youths beat up Nigerian soldiers for intimidating them.
The caption of the 1 minute 57 seconds video reads, “See How Angry Yoruba Youths are dealing with Nigeria Soldiers who came to Intimate them! The beating Loud 😱.”
In the video, a man is seen verbally confronting two men in military uniform with guns, perceived to be soldiers, which later turns physical as few other onlookers join in the physical confrontation against the soldiers. The post has had over 33,700 views, 173 replies, 187 reposts and quotes, 236, and 29 bookmarks as of the time this report was published.
One of the replies from the tweet by @BigLeeeooo said, “I love his courage, when was he buried?” while another user @realChinell replied saying, “This happened in Ghana look at even the car plate number.”
The viral clip could be seen on Youtube, Instagram and Facebook. NV-A went on to verify if this happened in Nigeria as claimed by the X user.
VERIFICATION
NV-A extracted screenshots from the clip and subjected it to Google Reverse Image Search and the results showed that the clip appeared online on December 7, 2024 and the incident did not happen in Nigeria, as claimed by @agnes_nwanneka but occurred in Ghana.
A report by a Ghanaian newspaper, The Chronicle which used a thumbnail similar to the one from the video was published with the title, “Civilian clashes with two military officers in Obuasi.” It was reported that ‘residents of Obuasi Akaporiso had the shock of their lives when a civilian fought two armed military officers in an open confrontation.’
Also, GhanaWeb reported the same incident that military personnel were spotted in an altercation with a civilian in Obuasi East in the Ashanti Region during the Ghanaian presidential elections on December 7, 2024. In the 3 minutes footage shared on GhanaWeb’s YouTube page, a young man who is believed to be in his early forties was shouting at the two soldiers over their presence in the area, ordering them to stay away from a nearby polling station before a military officer was punched in the face.
GHPAGE reported the same incident with the title, “Elections 2024: 1 NDC communications officer fights 2 soldiers who tried storming a polling station at Obuasi East.” The report contained an embedded post from @_AlbertAkwesi on X, explaining that a communications officer for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) had a run in with military men as he told them not to visit a polling centre in the Obuasi East area of the Ashanti region where the incident happened.
CONCLUSION
The circulating video is MISLEADING as this footage was not shot in Nigeria and the incident doesn’t depict a clash between Yoruba youths and Nigerian soldiers.
