FACT-CHECK: Simon Ekpa’s Claim That FG Sponsored Terror Attacks Against Christians In Zamfara FALSE

Simon Ekpa, a Finland-based self-proclaimed separatist leader, has shared a video purporting to show dead bodies of Christians that were ambushed and killed by government-sponsored terorrists in Zamfara State.

In the 59-second footage, two security officers were seen riding on a motorcycle while scores of lifeless bodies littered the ground. Two wielded-gun men were also seen speaking to the officers.

Ekpa, who has over 168,000 followers on X (formally Twitter), posted the clip on the microblogging site on 27, August 2024 with a caption that reads: “Breaking; The Nigeria government sponsored and supervised terror attack against Christians in Zamfara state. This is what we prevented in Biafraland”.

The video has generated over 30,000 views, with 1,946 reposts, 91 quotes, 2,290 likes and 81 bookmarks as of press time.

CLAIM

Sponsored Terror-Attacks Against Christians in Zamfara State

VERIFICATION

Findings by THE WHISTLER show that the claim is misleading as the incident reported on 25 August 2024 in Barsalogo town in Burkina Faso.

A reverse image search was conducted using screenshots of the footage, and the results led our fact-checker to various publications showing the tragic incident in Burkina Faso

BSC Happy Portal, a local outlet, reported that the incident happened in Barsalogovillage in Burkina Faso.

The report reads, “Between 100 and 200 people died in the terrorist attack that took place in the town of Barsalogo in Burkina Faso, and among the victims there are civilians and soldiers, security sources said today.

“Armed terrorist groups attacked the place, 45 kilometers north of the town of Kaya, yesterday, while the population was helping security forces dig trenches to protect army security posts”, the report reads, using Google translate to read the report in English.

Another news outlet, ETtoday, also published a similar report with attached images of the incident in Barsalogo village of Burkina Faso.

The report’s text, when translated from Chinese to English, reads, “A terrorist incident occurred in central Burkina Faso, West Africa. On the 24th, while residents of the Barsalogho region were digging trenches around the town, they were opened fire by militants suspected of being jihadists from the Islamic extremist organization, resulting in at least 400 deaths”

An X user,@War_Noir, posted the same video on 28 August 2024 with a caption that reads: #BurkinaFaso (#Sahel) : #JNIM (part of #AlQaeda) killed 200 villagers digging trenches in #Barsalogho, #Sanmatenga.

“Militants used #Chinese Type 67-2 machine gun, Type 56 rifles, #Serbia-made Zastava M05E1 rifle, #Bulgaria-made MG-1M machine gun, AKM pattern rifles”

VERDICT

Simon Ekpa’s claim that sponsored terrorists attacked and killed Christians in Zamfara is FALSE as the incident did not happen in Zamfara State. The video showed an incident which occurred in Barsalogo town of Burkina Faso.

FACT-CHECK: Simon Ekpa’s Claim That FG Sponsored Terror Attacks Against Christians In Zamfara FALSE is first published on The Whistler Newspaper