- The police command in Plateau State, North-central Nigeria, has also debunked the misleading claim.
About four pictures went viral on Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 29, with the claim that they depicted an attack in Jos, North-central Nigeria, involving between 230 and 250 Igbo passengers. But the images are not recent and were shot in unrelated circumstances.
“Jos crisis: Fulani men intersected on two luxurious bus[es] conveying Igbos home and set it on fire killing 230 Igbos,” one broadcast on WhatsApp stated.
“Every Igbo man in Jos right now should avoid Jos express road and stay indoors. If possible run to a church or Army barrack. There is an ongoing meeting in Enugu right now by Ohanaeze on how to convey you people back home as soon as possible.”
The same claim has been shared widely on the microblogging platform, Twitter, as well as Facebook and YouTube.
“#Fulanis In Nigeria set two Buses carrying Igbos from Jos to their home town Ablaze. Killing Total of 250 Igbos as confirmed. This is an act of war,” one account, IPOB Abia State (@Abiastatetweet1), tweeted on Sunday.
Two of the pictures in circulation show different luxury buses that have caught fire, one white, the second red. A third picture shows a crowd of youths, some of them holding sticks, as a huge flame billowed behind a fence.
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