Fact-Check: Did EFCC Operatives Smash Yahoo Boy’s Laptop and Engage Soldiers in a fight?
Claims: There is a viral video fastly circulating on various social media platforms such as Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and other online news space claiming that the officials of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) harassed a young man suspected to be a yahoo boy before some soldiers came to his rescue.
Full Text: In the video, three men wearing EFCC jackets and another wearing a police uniform raided an apartment while harassing a young man.
The EFCC is an anti-graft agency charged with the responsibility for investigation and prosecutions of economic and financial crimes in Nigeria.
In the video, the anti graft agency’s personnel, alongside a mobile policeman could be seen and heard asking the man “are you a yahoo boy?” The seeming suspect denied being a fraudster!
The men in uniform continuously slapped the youngman, as they took his laptop and smashed it on the ground.
They demanded the supposed suspect should transfer N1 million into their account which he did before two persons in army uniforms came to his rescue and engaged the men in EFCC jackets in a fight.
The four minutes ten seconds footage has this accompanying text which reads in parts “Could this be true with this caption????????This is armed robbery no doubt. They are armed, they used force and they robbed him of his money! Very unfortunate. We have the forest bandits, political bandits, judicial bandits and now EFCC bandits!.”
The video and the accompanied text were shared by a TikTok user with the handle @yorubastarblogger.
The video which was widely shared on social media platforms with various comments castigating EFCC and other security agencies
The video was being shared at the period when the agency had a face-off with men of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) who allegedly invaded the EFCC office in Kaduna state to release their colleagues from a custody. The incident was reported in the media.
Verification: PRNigeria fact-check team discovered that the video was released and uploaded in tranches with varying sizes in terms of duration, i.e in minutes and seconds, with the full footage being about 7 minutes and 58 seconds long.
Findings revealed that there are various versions of the widely circulated video with two different titles or captions for the same footage. One is captioned “EFCC and Army Wahala.” with 153k likes, 11k comments and 20k shared in one of the social media handles.
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The second one is titled “EFCC VS SOLDIERS” shared on YouTube and TikTok by @oga_alibaba (Ophicial Alibaba). This particular video started trending on 28 November, 2023.
Key findings from PRNigeria fact-check reveal that the incident was staged by skit/film makers which explains the video coverage of different behind the scene footage by cameraman.
The video was originally uploaded by a content creator named @mrmej on TikTok, who circulated it on 15 November, 2023.
The skit maker @mrmej has done similar videos with unknown persons putting on EFCC vests and facecap while others on army uniforms.
That the 7 minutes plus long video is aimed at entertaining the social media platforms audiences, and of course to gain more followers.
Meanwhile, EFCC had on June 21, 2023 warned skit/filmmakers and content creators from using the agency’s uniforms and other branded materials without authorization.
Similarly, the EFCC Spokesperson, Mr Dele Oyewale in a press statement released on 15 November, reiterated that: “Skit makers are warned again to desist from unauthorized use of the identities of the EFCC to ply their trade. The Commission will not hesitate to bring to book anyone caught displaying its operational identities for any engagement.
“… The shameful characterization of supposed operatives of the Commission in the video unleashing terror on “suspects”, is not only embarrassing but indicative of a deliberate attempt to cast shadows on the image of the EFCC.
“Operatives of the EFCC are not bullies. They are trained as refined modern law enforcement officers rich in decency, civility and respect for members of the public, including suspects of economic and financial crimes,” the official statement read.
Conclusion: After the fact-check, PRNigeria reveals that the individuals in the viral video were not the operatives of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), but comedians, skit makers and actors.
The fact-check team therefore concludes that the video circulating on various social media platforms such as Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and other online news space claiming that the operatives of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) harassed a young man suspected to be a yahoo boy is misleading and false
