‘How Fake News from Delta Triggered #ENDSARS Protests’
A video was uploaded with a false tag that SARS operatives had just shot someone dead
Inspector General of Police Adamu
Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, has narrated how a purported fake video recorded in Delta state triggered the two-week #Endsars protests in many states across the country.
The #ENDSARS protests which is a slogan call for the disbanding of the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS), (a police unit with records of abuses) was revitalised last month following series of reports against the unit.
Speaking at an emergency security meeting with Governors of the 19 Northern states and some first-class Emirs in the region on Monday, IGP Adamu said the protest, which snowballed into a security challenge in some parts of the country was instigated by ‘fake news’ that emanated from Ughelli in Delta State.
He told the government officials during a closed-door session at the Council Chamber of Sir Kashim Ibrahim House, that the security agents in Ughelli in the video posted online did not in any way involve SARS operatives and said the suspect responsible for the video has been arrested and arraigned before a court.
In his presentation, the police boss said on that fateful day, operatives of Operation Delta Safe; a state government sponsored joint security outfit comprising the military, police and other security agencies, while on routine patrol around Ughelli Township, accosted a Lexus jeep.
He said on citing the approaching patrol team, the occupants of the jeep dangerously engaged the reverse gear in an attempt to escape and evade the joint security team’s scrutiny.
“This elicited the suspicion of the patrol team as the incident occurred in an area that had witnessed a series of kidnapping.”
He said unknown to the driver of the Lexus jeep, Operation Delta Safe move in pairs because of the volatility of the area.
“The patrol team coming behind subsequently intercepted the escaping vehicle and arrested the two male occupants.”
The IG said the suspects were moved into the patrol vehicle while a police officer drove the Lexus jeep to the Ughelli Police Station with the intention of a detailed investigation.
He, however, said while moving, one of the suspects, Joshua Ambrose jumped out of the moving patrol vehicle and sustained bruises on his head and body.
“The patrol team stopped to attend to the situation and they were mobbed and had to tactically retreat to prevent possible violence.
“While this was going on, one Malcolm Nicholas who was at the scene recorded the incident and uploaded it on social media with a false tag that SARS operatives had just shot someone dead at Ughelli, Delta state.”
“The false news soon went viral and inflamed national passion, which eventually formed the rallying point for the protest. The said Nicholas has been arrested charged to court under the law,” he said.
The IG said Joshua Ambrose, the injured suspect was neither shot nor dead as portrayed in the false social media news by Malcolm Nicholas.