Fact-check: Did Shettima Visit Bandits In An Unnamed Location After Elections?

Claim: A video of about 1:5min is widely circulated on WhatsApp that is further shared on other social media platforms, especially on Facebook claiming that the Nigeria’s vice president-elect, Sen. Kashim Shettima visited armed bandits in an unknown location after the election.

Full-Text: The footage wherein the claim was made reads: “See them here. APC Government… Nigeria vice president elected caught visiting bandits. OMG… Nigerians how did we get here? [sic].

Reacting, a Facebook user—Consti A. Otukudoh commented saying, “Your Vice President Elect in bed with his people the Bandits. Are you still wondering how he wants to tackle insecurity? He will unleash them on their political enemies. Want to know the victims? Your guess is as good as mine 🤔🤔 Make it go viral [sic]”

Verification: PRNigeria traced the origin of the circulated video to June 27, 2017. The video was 2 minutes and 51 seconds.

The video was posted by Shettima himself when he was Governor of Borno State after paying an inspection visit to Lamisula Primary School during which additional classrooms were constructed to attract massive enrolment of out-of-school children, who were largely victims of the Boko Haram insurgency.

PRNigeria observed that the then governor of Borno Kashim Shettima in the video spoke multilingually in English, Hausa, and Kanuri and that the men in scarves and glasses were Fulani herdsmen.

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However, the men carrying guns as seen in the footage were members of the Department of State Security Service (DSS).

Previously, PRNigeria fact checked similar claims of Shettima hobnobbing bandits and Boko Haram terrorists which turned out to be false or misleading.

Meanwhile, the VP-elect is notorious for his wisecracks with Fulani since he became Governor of Borno State, a short review of his social accounts can reveal.

Conclusion:

Based on the verification of the footage, PRNigeria discovered that the video was taken while Kashim Shettima was inspecting a school project as Governor of Borno State in 2017, and could not have been after the 2023 elections, that he and his principal, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, were returned as President and Vice President-Elect.

Shettima posted the video himself in June 2017 on his Facebook page, after he visited a school meant to absorb victims of insurgency, then as Governor of Borno State.

PRNigeria therefore, concludes that the claim that VP-Elect Kashim Shettima visited bandits in an unnamed location after the 2023 election, is not only MISLEADING, but FALSE.

PRNigeria