FACT CHECK: Did DSS share 2013 images as items recovered from Igboho’s house?

On Thursday, the Department of State Services (DSS) said it recovered illegal arms, cash and charms from the home of Sunday Adeyemo, a youth leader better known as Sunday Igboho, during a raid by operatives of the agency in Ibadan, Oyo state capital.

The secret service agency displayed pictures of the arms — including seven AK-47 rifles — charms and other items taken from Igboho’s house.

Igboho, a youth leader who has been agitating for the creation of ‘Yoruba Nation’, escaped arrest during the raid.

Speaking after the incident, Igboho said the arms paraded by the DSS did not belong to him, adding that they were planted by operatives of the agency.

Shortly after Ighoho’s denial, there were claims circulating on social media that the DSS posted old pictures of arms uploaded on Facebook by one Rotimi Adebuji in 2013 as the ones recovered from Igboho.

A page on Facebook with the name “Sunday Igboho Fan” said the arms allegedly posted by Adebuju eight years ago was recycled by the DSS.

The post was shared by 123 users, with 31 comments.

A Facebook user, Endless Joy Destiny, wrote: “Government Magic Guns and Bulletproof vest claimed paraded by DSS surely is a real magician not Sunday Igboho vest. We discovered that Rotimi Adebuji uploaded the pictures awhile ago date July 8,2013 around 9:58am. It’s our civil right to know the truth about our dear nation. I’m a law abiding citizen.” This post was shared by 155 Facebook users.

Taiwo Oluwatuyi, another Facebook user, wrote: “The same items posted by Rotimi Adebuji in July 2013 were now found 8 years later at IGBOHO OOSA House in 2021.”

Ibn Soliu wrote on his Facebook page, “DSS display 2013 recycled exhibit allegedly claimed belongs to Chief Sunday Adeyemo Igboho.”

Adetutu Balogun, a Twitter user with over 264k followers, wrote, “This picture from 2013 is Sunday Igboho’s house?” Her post has attracted over 3,000 retweets and 210 comments.

This picture from 2013 is Sunday Igboho’s house? 🙄 https://t.co/Tc0S65y0Yd pic.twitter.com/bfgFe0eHZL

— Adetutu Balogun, MBA (@Tutsy22) July 3, 2021

Okafor Chineme tweeted, “Alright I saw on somebody’s Whatsapp status, the same pictures of arms ammunition and charm vest DSS displayed as belonging to Sunday Igboho, were exactly the same pictures displayed by DSS in 2013 check out Rotimi Adebuji post dated July 8, 2013 on facebook.”

https://twitter.com/chukwunemerem28/status/1411335871677276165?s=20

DID DSS RECYCLE OLD PICTURES?
Findings by TheCable showed that the pictures had not appeared online before the DSS shared them. Also, findings showed that Adebuji did not share the photos in 2013 as claimed. The Facebook user shared the pictures after the DSS released them to the public.

In a Facebook post to clarify the misconception that had gone viral, Adebuji said Facebook simply compiled a collage of 5,000 pictures he had uploaded on his timeline since 2013, including recent ones, which he shared.

“This special album was created for me by FB due to my uploading activities since I joined FB! You will get yours when you uploaded more than 5,000 pictures,” he wrote on Saturday.

VERDICT:

The DSS did not recycle old pictures as arms retrieved from Igboho’s home. The viral images from a 2013 Facebook post are a collage of old and new pictures shared by a social media user.