FACT-CHECK: Are Heavily-armed Fulanis in Nigeria's Nasarawa State Going From House-to-house Searching For Igbo Biafrans?

A tweet by some social media users which started in February 2021 had claimed that some stoutly armed persons of the Fulani tribe in Lafia, Nasarawa state are moving from house-to-house searching for Igbo Biafrans - apparently to kill.

The tweet has garnered dozens of retweets on microblogging platform, Twitter.

Nasarawa State in northcentral Nigeria has Fulani as one of its major languages. The Fulani are a widely dispersed group of mainly Muslim cattle herders scattered across West Africa.

Scrutinising the image

The photo used by the tweeter is not from Nigeria.

A reverse image search shows that it is a 2009 picture of Somali hardline Islamist Hisbul Islam militia at a training camp on the outskirts of Afgoye district in the East African country's lower Shabelle region.

Besides, the caption by the poster seems bogus.

What's it with Fulanis?

Some Fulani communities in Nigeria have accused media practitioners and organisations of stereotyping them. The stereotype soared recently owing to the herdsmen crisis.

The Fulani have been accused of rape, kidnapping, armed robbery, and murder in parts of Nigeria.

Earlier this year, Governor Akeredolu of Ondo State was constrained to issue an ultimatum that all occupants of Ondo State forest reserves who are predominantly herdsmen grazing their cattle should register with the State Government or vacate the forests, which have been identified as the hotbed of criminal activities in the State, and indeed, in forests in most other States.

Likewise, a car salesman, Sunday Adeniyi Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho emerged as a controversial national figure in this increasingly tension-soaring matter.

Sunday Igboho demanded that the Fulani herders, from northern Nigeria, should leave the south-west, seen as the home of the Yoruba ethnic group, for all their alleged crimes.

Who are Igbo Biafrans?

The plan for a Biafra state by Easterners in Nigeria is not new.

In 1967, Igbo leaders declared a Biafran state, but after a brutal civil war, which led to the deaths of up to a million people, the secessionist rebellion was defeated.

Some ethnic Igbo activists have taken up the cause of pushing for an independent state, saying the Igbos have been marginalised by successive Nigerian governments.

Over 50 years after the civil war ended in Nigeria, the struggle to keep the dream of a separate Biafra state alive continues, including through a relentless disinformation campaign on social media.

Many had telltale signs of distortion: they were poorly written, almost never attributed sources, and often contained mislabelled or manipulated photos and videos.

Since AllNews birthed in 2019, we have debunked several false claims.

The diaspora-based leader of the now-banned Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu had vowed through his new Facebook page that he'd continue 'relentless propagation of the restoration of Biafra'.

 

READ ALSO: Were Several Fulani Herdsmen Burnt To Death As They Tried To Enter Edo?

Conclusion

There is no evidence that heavily-armed Fulanis in Nasarawa state went from house-to-house searching for Igbo Biafrans.