How Twitter Has Been Helpful In The Fight Against Misinformation During #EndSARS Protest (GRAPHIC IMAGES)
Twitter: A Medium To ‘Tell It As It Is‘
WARNING: Article contains graphic images. Viewers discretion advised
What started off as a regular Twitter outrage predicted to end in a couple of hours has grown into a force that is faceless, nameless and relentless. A force that has been described as unbeatable, equipped with strength, will, tactics and technology.
Renewed outrage against the notorious police unit, Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), known for perpetuating nefarious activities ranging from extortion, intimidation, hijacking, maiming and even extrajudicial killing, was triggered by a video shared by a Twitter user, Khal Bussie, on Saturday, October 3.
In this video, the recorder asserted that a young man was shot dead by SARS officials in Ughelli, Delta and drove off with his car.
Though a police statement later clarified that the young man was only injured after jumping down from a moving Delta Operation Safe vehicle and not in the hands of SARS, the deed was already done. The outcry had begun. Nigerians called out every and any sector involved and right in the middle of these was the micro-blogging platform — Twitter.
From one tweet to a thread to a hashtag, the revolution began. It revived the many years of unheard calls for an end to police brutality, all under the umbrella of the hashtag - #EndSARS.
The #EndSARS movements have since grown into a full-fledged quest for better governance in the nation. It has also evolved into a microsystem, involving people online and offline, where all parts function to support and sustain the protest and cry for change.
Away from the uprising being a shocker to many in terms of youths’ participation and coordination, social media - Twitter, in particular, has been harnessed in the most surprising manner.
Often tagged as a tool for misinformation and a channel for fake news creation and peddling, the protesting youths have changed the narrative by using this same tool to quell misinformation birthed by traditional media channels and government institutions.
There are a number of instances where this has happened but here are three most striking ones since the beginning of the physical protests.
October 10, 2020: During the protest in Ogbomoso, Oyo state, a young man named Jimoh Isiaq was shot dead. Photos shared on Twitter showed in sequence how Isiaq was just a bystander who got shot at when police officers unleashed violence on protesters.
Yet, a local media house headlined its report as “No shot was fired, nobody was killed.” This report only highlighted what police claimed to have happened.
Another one, October 12, 2020: Some publications published that policemen were attacked and one died during a protest in Surulere, Lagos State. This led to the arrest of some protesters including an artiste manager, Ademola Ojabodu better known as OjahB, who was to be charged for the murder of the officer.
However, real facts of the incident emerged when the visual content of how things went down was shared on Twitter by eyewitnesses. With the effectiveness of retweets and shares, the information was widespread.
Facts are, of a truth, there was a shooting and an officer was killed in the process, but contrary to the narrative pushed out by local media and the police, the man died from accidental shots fired by his colleague and not protesters, as claimed.
Also, to aid OjahB’s release from custody, online protesters (those helping to create swift online awareness, often called keypad warriors) dug through pictures and video footage shared on Twitter to find evidence showing that OjahB at different points in time was COMPLETELY uninvolved in the shooting.
In addition, away from local media reports, the police have been more blatant in their distortion of facts. The force, in a now-deleted thread made on Twitter via its account, @PoliceNG, stated that protesters fired live billets and killed one Ikechukwu Ilohamauzo.
Online reports, however, quickly debunked it. Showing that the man was an innocent bystander who lost his life after police officers shot into the crowd. He literally fell to the ground with his hands dipped in his pockets.
October 12, 2020: One instance that angered a number of protesters was a front-page headline by a daily newspaper which states: “How Buhari, Osinbajo’s daughters, Zahra and Kiki, brought SARS down.”
The publication was made shortly after Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu announced the dissolution of the SARS police unit. It ascribed this feat to the one-time participation of the ladies.
The news report is however untrue, considering that these mentioned ladies have been largely silent about the movement, while Nigerian youths continue to leave their homes daily to go protest en masse.
October 15, 2020: Recently, an NGO named Civil Society Group went live on Channels TV claiming;
“Protesters have been assaulting security agents especially Nigeria Police Force…The protest is gradually turning into anarchy…”
Thankfully, photos and videos of the protest since it began on October 7 have shown that it has been a peaceful movement, fuelled by passion, love and kindness towards one another.
These instances and many more have been so little seen in the mainstream media and government institutions, which is quite a disdain and stain on the integrity and credibility of these media.
Due to the various cases of misinformation and fake news, protesters have been encouraged to wield their recording devices (phones, cameras) as their weapon of warfare, in order to help create a balance in new reportage through the help of social media.