By: Mustapha Lawal
Claim
Residents of Zurmi LGA, Zamfara State migrate en masse to unknown destinations to escape Nigeria’s age-long bandit violence. .
Verdict
False! The video attached is an old video from Solhan Village in the northern region of Burkina Faso in 2021 and is unrelated to Zurmi LGA, Zamfara State.
Full Text
Nigeria’s Northwest, Zamfara State especially, is plagued by a deadly crisis being perpetrated by criminal gangs famously known as bandits. According to data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), a conflict data aggregator, these bandits killed more than 2,600 civilians in 2021, an increase of over 250 percent from 2020.
FIJ had earlier reported that despite a plethora of military campaigns launched against them, bandits have proven strong in their clandestine tactics.
Zurmi is described as the second most populous town in Zamfara after Gusau, the state capital. Lying on the border with the Niger Republic and sharing a boundary with Katsina State, it is one of the areas frequently attacked by terrorists in the state.
In May, Premium Times detailed how Zurmi was overrun by terrorists who killed three officials at the Emir’s palace and abducted many residents.
Bello Hassan, a lawmaker representing Zurmi/Shinkafa Federal Constituency at the House of Representatives, also told BBC Hausa Service that the terrorists sacked about 50 communities and carted away over 500 people in the affected villages over the weeks. He said the wanton attacks have forced many of the residents to flee their homes after weeks of incessant attacks in Zurmi Local Government Area of Zamfara State.
With this context, an X user, identified as Serah Ibrahim claimed in a post (archived here) that about 5000 locals have been kidnapped in Zurmi LGA, Zamfara State and that people are migrating en masse to escape for safety with their families, attaching a video to prove this claim.
The post is captioned ‘Breaking’ news — seemingly suggesting a recency —which implies its recency) around 9:00 pm on May 16, 2024 and condemning how the authorities have remained silent.
“BREAKING: Not 1; Not 2; Not 50; But 500. 500 people have been kidnapped in Zurmi LGA, Zamfara State. And not a single word from the Governor or the Presidency” the post reads in part.
“Families around that region can be seen migrating to unknown destinations, in an attempt to run away from the attackers.”
Checks by FactCheckAfrica also saw the clip across other pages and platforms including Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
FactCheckAfrica conducted this verification to authenticate the veracity of the video.
Verification
FactCheckAfrica conducted a reverse image search on keyframes from the footage and found that it is not a recent video against the breaking news tag in the claim. Our findings reveal that the video is from 2021 and is unrelated to the attacks in Zurmi LGA, Zamfara State.
The earliest version of the clip found by FactCheckAfrica was published on Facebook on June 8, 2021 by SAIDA International e.V, a German charity organization. The foreign body explained the incident showed people in Burkina Faso fleeing their homes to avoid criminal gangs.
The caption attached to the original version of the post by SAIDA International has a headline which translates as “On the run in their own country,” from German. The complete caption when translated reads: “As if the people in #Burkina Faso, one of the poorest countries in the world, did not have enough worries already, they now have to leave their belongings behind and flee from murderous gangs.”
On the same day, 8th June, 2021, Al Jazeera reported that over 7,000 families have fled their homes at Solhan Village in the northern region of Burkina Faso following the area’s worst massacre in years, to Sebba after attackers’ invasion led to the death of at least 138 people in the village. AFP reported that the displaced residents traveled 15 kilometers (10 miles) from the scene of the attack to Sebba, the capital of Yagha province.
On the same day, Lobs Paalga TV, an online media based in Burkina Faso, posted the longer version of the video. The platform also attributed the video to fleeing residents of Solhan village in Burkina Faso.
FactCheckAfrica found that the video clip has repeatedly been used to spread misinformation in Africa, particularly in countries dealing with violent conflicts and terrorist attacks.
The video was circulated In December 2021, during the clashes between rural communities in Cameroon’s Far North region, which saw the killings of two people. The video was circulated to show residents of the country’s border community of Kousseri fleeing to Chad. However, AFP found the claim to be false.
The video was also recirculated in 2022 during a plague of attacks by heavily-armed criminal gangs, known locally as bandits who raid villages, kill residents, carry out mass kidnappings for ransom and burn homes after looting them at the Shiroro, Munya, and Kafikoro areas of Niger state, Nigeria. Also, The Cable found the claim to be false.
Conclusion
Based on our findings, FactCheckAfrica can confirm that the video clip has repeatedly been used to spread misinformation in Africa, particularly in countries dealing with violent conflicts and terrorist attacks.
