FACT-CHECK: Trending Photos Of Plateau Massacre Aftermath Are Misleading

By Yunusa UMAR On Jan 3, 2024

Some trending photos reportedly showing the carnage that trailed the Plateau State Christmas eve attacks are misleading, checks by THE WHISTLER have shown.

The photos were shared on X (formerly Twitter) by a propaganda account operated from the United States, @EndWokeness.

The post, which has over 3.5 million views, claimed that the razed houses were from Mangun, Bokkos and Barki-Ladi of Plateau State by gunmen on Christmas Eve.

It was captioned, “Christmas massacre in Nigeria”, the Page’s caption read. “The death toll is 140 and climbing after a series of coordinated attacks by Jihadist forces in Plateau”.

“They attacked 20 Christian communities in Central Nigeria, raiding and burning homes while civilians were asleep. 300 are injured and 221 homes are destroyed.

The caption further reads, “The authorities did not respond for over 12 hours, a source told AP. In the past 2 decades, 62, 000 Christians in Nigeria have been killed by jihadists and another 5 million have been displaced”.

CHRISTMAS MASSACRE IN NIGERIA:

The death toll is 140 and climbing after a series of coordinated attacks by Jihadist forces in Plateau.

They attacked 20 Christian communities in Central Nigeria, raiding and burning homes while civilians were asleep. 300 are injured and 221 homes… pic.twitter.com/IVWvSe3a2K
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) December 26, 2023

Recall that THE WHISTLER had reported the attacks on the three local government areas of Plateau where scores of residents were waylaid and killed by assailants with many properties destroyed.

FINDINGS

Nigeria

Plateau Massacre: Falana To Blow Whistle On FG

Jun 27, 2018

Nigeria

Plateau Massacre: IGP Deploys 2 Helicopters, 5 Armored Carriers To Troubled Areas

Jun 25, 2018

Checks by THE WHISTLER revealed that the images attached to the post are not recent.

When subjected to reverse-imaging on Yandex, it was discovered that the pictures were first published as far back as May, 2021.

The first image was used by The Guardian and The Nation newspapers as part of a report detailing how 1,844 inmates escaped from the Nigeria Correctional Services (NCS), Owerri District, following the attack on the facility on April 5, 2021 by unknown gunmen.

The second image was a stock photo of security guards that has been online since April 2022.

Also, the third image depicting houses allegedly razed by the gunmen, was dated back to the invasion of militias in Plateau State in April 2022.