FACT CHECK: Did Biafran militia seize Enugu state government house?

CLAIM: A Biafran militia has seized the Enugu State Government House, and has ordered all soldiers of Northern origin to leave in 24 hours.

VERDICT: False!

FULL TEXT

A Facebook page, Igbotimes Magazine, claims that the Enugu State Government House has been purportedly seized by ‘Biafran militia’ and that all soldiers of Northern origin have been asked to leave in 24 hours.

In a post made on Wednesday, it was written that the seizure has led to the closure of roads in the state and that it has caused “a state of heightened tension in the region.”

The South-East region is currently facing unrest due to the violent activities of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a proscribed separatist group whose leader, Nnamdi Kanu is currently in detention.

The group had imposed a compulsory weekly ‘sit-at-home’ on the region, in which all commercial activities are suspended on Mondays. People who fail to comply with the order are often brutalized or killed.

Even after IPOB called foe a stop to the sit-at-home a Finland based separatist, and self styled Prime Minister the Biafra government in Exile, Simon Ekpa has continued to order the sit-at-home.
The governors in the region have made efforts to stop the sit-at-home.

A report that a state government house was hijacked will stir fear among people, so Ripples Nigeria decided to check the report’s veracity. It is worthy of note that separatists had attempted to take over the Enugu State government house in the past. In 2014, it was invaded by a group known as the Biafra Zionist Movement (BZM). The group claimed that the government house is the headquarters of the Republic of Biafra.

READ ALSO:FACT CHECK: Was Justice Tsammani’s home attacked over judgment on Tinubu?

VERIFICATION:

Ripples Nigeria subjected the pictures attached to the post to reverse image searches, and found that they are old pictures and were not taken in Enugu. One of the pictures was of Nigerian soldiers fighting insurgency in the North-West. The other one is of Nigerian soldiers at the scene of a protest by members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (Shi’ites) in 2014.

These are the pictures below used in credible news platforms with their captions showing their original source.

Also, no mainstream media has reported any security breach in the Enugu State Government House.

CONCLUSION

The claim that the Enugu State Government House has been seized by armed Biafran militia is false.

By: Oluwatobi Odeyinka

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