Social media posts falsely claim Nigerian man jumped to his death to avoid deportation

“A man committed suicide inside Heathrow airport insted of being deported back to Nigeria, that's how bad and dejected the system has become (sic),” reads a tweet published on July 29, 2023.

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A screenshot shows the false tweet, taken on July 31, 2023

It added that the “judiciary must save us from total collapse”, an apparent reference to the petitions filed at a tribunal contesting Nigerian President Bola Tinubu’s election victory in February.

The post features a man who appears to be having a heated argument with someone moments before he plunges over the safety railings to the floor below.

Several other accounts on X, formerly Twitter, shared the video here and here.

Poll disputes

Tinubu won a disputed election that opposition leaders say was flawed.

Labour Party candidate Peter Obi and fellow opposition leader Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) argued that widespread irregularities and rigging marred the election.

Both men separately petitioned an election tribunal to overturn the results, with each claiming to have won (archived here). Judgements are pending.

Minutes after taking office in May, Tinubu removed the costly fuel subsidy that has kept the prices of petrol low in Africa’s largest economy. The price of petrol quickly surged, and inflation rose to 22.7% in June, bringing added hardship to millions of Nigerians.

But the claim that the video shows a Nigerian man who jumped to his death to avoid deportation is false.

Old video from Atlanta

Using the InVID-WeVerify video verification tool, AFP Fact Check found that the footage has been online since 2018.

American news outlet Fox News published the video on its website on March 1, 2018 (archived here).

The news outlet said in another report that the man was an intoxicated traveller who jumped off a second-floor walkway at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, in the US state of Georgia (archived here).

It also reported that the man sustained “serious injuries” but was “alert and breathing” when emergency responders got to him.

A report published by another American news outlet identified the man as 32-year-old Kyle Phillips and revealed that he was charged with “disorderly conduct and intoxication” (archived here).

The article stated that he was involved in an altercation with fellow passengers moments before he vaulted over the railings. There was no mention of his nationality.