FACTCHECK: Old video of killings in Imo recirculated as a recent attack.
Some social media users have been circulating a video clip of an attack, which they suggested happened in Imo State on Thursday, 11 June 2026.
Some social media users have been circulating a video clip of an attack, which they suggested happened in Imo State on Thursday, 11 June 2026.
“While we are here laughing on Facebook, terrorists have invaded somewhere in Imo State, leaving over 10 persons butchered,” a social media user, Vivian Irondi, posted on Facebook on Friday, 11 June.
In her comment section, many users asked her for details of the reported attack, but she would send a video clip instead.
Ms Irondi repeatedly admitted that she has no idea where the attack happened, but she continued circulating the clip.
The Facebook post, as of Saturday morning, had garnered 333 comments and 246 likes, and over 11 people had reshared it.
In the now-viral clip reviewed by PREMIUM TIMES, four bodies of slain family members were lying inside what appeared to be a shop.
The bodies were those of two adult women, a girl, and a man – all in a pool of their blood.
The clip showed some security operatives filming the bodies while discussing the attack.
Based on their interactions, PREMIUM TIMES identified the location as Amanaogu Community in Ihitenansa, Orsu Local Government Area of Imo State.
However, similar attacks were carried out at the same time in neighbouring villages of Umukabia, Eziawa, Ihitte Nasa, Umuhu, Amaoku, and Amaebe – all in Orsu LGA of the state.
This newspaper reliably gathered that the same clip has been repeatedly shared in many WhatsApp groups, especially in Imo State.
PREMIUM TIMES first reviewed the comments on Ms Irondi’s Facebook page and found that while hundreds of people expressed outrage over the incident, a few users labelled the clip as old.
This newspaper then contacted an indigene of the community, also a journalist, on Saturday morning, who confirmed that the attack happened in January 2025.
“There was no fresh attack. It is an old video of an attack last year, January, that people have been recirculating,” the journalist, who asked not to be named, told PREMIUM TIMES after seeing the clip forwarded to him.
He said many people have been sharing the video clip in several of the community’s WhatsApp groups, giving the false impression that the attack “just happened.”
“I was trying to tell them that it is an old video,” the journalist said.
“What happened was that, in 2025, some gunmen began to kill families frequently in Orsu, especially in beer parlours, but the community later found out that the attackers were cultists, not even a separatist group,” he narrated.
Also, PREMIUM TIMES conducted a reverse image search of the video clip and found that it was first uploaded to Facebook in January 2025.
The clip, it was further found, was recorded in Amanaogu Community in Orsu Local Government Area of Imo State when gunmen invaded the community and killed at least 11 people.
The attack happened between 5 and 8 January 2025.
It was reported in various Nigerian newspapers, including The Nation and The Punch.
Saharareporters also reported the attack in January last year, with an exact photograph from the now-recirculated video clip.
The claim that there was a recent deadly attack in Imo State, as captured in the video clip, is false and misleading.
The clip is an old video of an attack in January 2025, recirculated to suggest it happened recently.
