Old footage shows police breaking up rally in Kenya, not armed attack in Nigeria

The footage has been viewed more than 40,000 times since it was published by a Facebook page called “Julie Agu” on May 30, 2021. 

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Screenshot taken on May 30, 2021, showing the false Facebook post

“UGM ATTACKED, IMO STATE GOVERNOR HOPE UZODINMA TODAY IN OWERRI,” reads the caption on the Facebook post with more than 850 shares.

UGM means “unknown gunmen” – a phrase used to describe assailants in various parts of Nigeria, including in southeastern Imo state where deadly violence has also led to the destruction of public property.

Although officials have blamed the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) for the regional unrest, the separatist group – which is fighting for an independent state for the Igbo people in Nigeria’s southeast – has denied any wrongdoing.

The same clip also appeared on Twitter alongside a similar claim that Uzodinma had escaped death in a gun battle between “unknown gunmen” and the police in the capital Owerri.

Footage unrelated to Nigeria

By conducting reverse image searches on keyframes of the video, AFP Fact Check traced the clip to a report published on YouTube by news channel KTN News, part of the Kenyan media group that also owns leading newspaper The Standard. 

The broadcast, from January 18, 2020, shows Kenyan police dispersing crowds gathering for a political rally in Mumias, in the country’s western region of Kakamega.

And while AFP reported that armed men attacked the Uzodinma's residence in April 2021, killing three police officials, there is no evidence that a fresh attack targeting the Nigerian governor took place in recent days.

AFP Fact Check previously debunked similar posts which falsely claimed the same footage showed an attack by Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram on the convoy of the governor of Nigeria’s troubled Borno state, Babagana Zulum.