Events
Are the images of arrested Owo massacre suspects true?
ON WEDNESDAY, the 10th of August 2022, a popular Nigerian blog, Instablog9ja at about 2:06 pm posted on its social media pages (Instagram and Twitter), the identities, including names and photos, of the five arrested suspected killers of victims of the Owo massacre.
Instablog9ja on its Twitter handle @instablog9ja listed the names of the arrested suspects as Idris Ojo, Ishaq Farouk, Abdulmannan Obadiki, Abdulkareem Musa, and Abdul Azeez Obadaki, all from Kogi state.
This claim is false.
The Findings:
Earlier on Tuesday, the Chief of Defence Staff, Lucky Irabor, a general, had announced the arrest of five terrorists suspected to be behind the Owo church attack.
The CDS said that, through the collaborative efforts of military and DSS personnel, four terrorists were arrested at Eika, Okehi LGA, Kogi State on the 1st of August, 2022.
Those arrested, according to Irabor, included Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza (a.k.a Bin Malik), Momoh Otohu Abubakar, Aliyu Yusuf Itopa, and Auwal Ishaq Onimisi.
The Defence chief also mentioned the arrest of another suspected terrorist, Idris Ojo (32 years), who was apprehended at Ayetoro in Osi LGA of Ondo State through the combined effort of military and DSS personnel on the 7th of August 2022.
The Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) had, following the Kuje jailbreak, posted the identities of the escapees on the run on its portal.
Conclusion:
The claim that the tweet shows the names and photos of the five arrested suspected killers of worshippers in the Owo Catholic Church attack is FALSE; findings revealed that the identities of the five persons tweeted by Instablog9ja were those on the wanted “escapees” list of the nation’s Correctional authority and not suspects connected to the Owo church attack.
