Facts-Check: Was National Assembly Shut down By Unknown Forces and Taken Over By DSS? 

Facts-Check: Was National Assembly Shut down By Unknown Forces and Taken Over By DSS? 

Claim: There is a video circulating on Facebook and other social media platforms claiming that the National Assembly has been shut down by Unknown Forces and Taken over by the Department of State Security (DSS).

Full Text: The claim was accompanied by the following headline “*BREAKING NEWS: NIGERIA IS NOW IN A STATE OF ANARCHY/DICTATORSHIP. NATIONAL ASSEMBLY HAS BEEN SHUT DOWN BY UNKNOWN FORCES AND TAKEN OVER BY DSS!*”

The footage shows some vehicles stationed at an entrance of the National Assembly with some main at the top of their voices. 

“They say it’s order from above, what order from above,” one of the men in the clip said.

Another man in a black Safari suit said, “we have been refused entry into the National Assembly by the DSS…we are waiting for our colleagues and we will see how many of us they want to kill, how many Nigerians they want to kill…we have told them this number of men is not enough they should go and bring more men to stop us from entering the symbol of Nigeria’s democracy.”

Verification: An open-source investigation by PR Nigeria reveals that the video was first uploaded on August 7, 2018, on Channel TV YouTube page following a report that the DSS invaded the National Assembly thereby preventing Senators and House of Reps members from entering the chamber. This was as a result of an emergency meeting summoned by the then Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki to discuss issues which included the string of defections in the political space, the rumoured plan to impeach the Senate President and the pending 2019 elections supplementary budget, among others issues. Some of the report can be read on Punch, The Eagle Online and The Guardian among others.

PRNigeria also studied the video and noticed former legislators of that period including Hon. Olayonu Tope Danladi from Offa Constituency and Senator Rafiu Ibrahim from Kwara South Constituency as well as Hon. Beni Liar who served in the 8th National Assembly.

Conclusion: In view of the facts, PRNigeria concludes that the video in circulation of the purported invasion of the National Assembly by the DSS was a footage from an incident in August 2018.  

PRNigeria, therefore, concludes that the claim is MISLEADING. 

By PRNigeria

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