Over the weekend, various accounts accused the Nigerian Military of uploading a video of soldiers burning down a community where some of their colleagues were killed as well as posting cryptic message “the audacity” via one of it’s Twitter (X) account.
The various allegations emerged as a result of the killing of a Commanding Officer, two Majors, one Captain and 12 soldiers of 181 Amphibious Battalion by yet to be identified assailants in Bomadi Local Government Area of Delta state.
The incident has since sparked various reactions.
Claim1: Did the Military Tweet cryptic message, ‘The Audacity’ over the weekend?
Verification
CDD War Room combed through the various twitter handles of the Nigerian Military and found that one of the military’s official handle the Defence HQ Nigeria had on Sunday at 10:55am Tweeted the word “Audacity” attached with a black heart emoji. While the tweet was a standalone, it came in the heat of controversies surrounding the military killings and retaliation.
The tweet by the Defence HQ has been since deleted.
Verdict: True
Claim 2: Did the Military post a video of soldiers burning down a community in Delta?
The claim also suggested that the military uploaded a video of a community being burnt down by soldiers. The claim further inferred that the tweet has been deleted.
CDD War Room found an old unrelated video being peddled to make the claim; it did not emanate from the military. An online publisher who had earlier circulated the video, later apologized for doing so. The said video was not circulated by the Nigerian military as claimed.
Verdict: FALSE