Claim: A Facebook user, Very Dark Man, has claimed that a two-headed man has arrived in Nigeria.
Verdict: Misleading. Available findings showed that the image is an artistic work produced by Onilogbo Hakeem Effect for a movie scene in the Anikulapo series, Rise of the Spectre.
Full Text
Nigeria has creative customs and artistic talents among its citizens. The concept of art can be found in how humans express their feelings, knowledge, and ideas. Sometimes, it is used for creative expressions in movies.
On March 6, 2024, a Facebook user, Very Dark Man, recently posted an image of a two-headed man claiming that he had just arrived in Nigeria.
Source : Very Dark Man page
A screenshot of the post on the Very Dark Man page on Facebook on March 5, 2024. Indications on the profile picture shows that the profile is not for the popular Very Dark Man.
“See Gobe! Man wey get two heads don land for Naija!😱😱😱 Wonders no go ever finish 😱😱 Dem don discover man with two heads for Naija. Some people dey talk say na film scene, but we never sabi for sure. Dis tori don scatter ground. We go update una as e dey unfold. Video on my Facebook stories,” he said.
The post has received several engagements, including 998 likes, 416 comments, and 118 shares.
While some readers do not believe the assertion, some appear to think that it might be true.
Patience Peter commented: “Wetin I they see for India don reach Nigeria. God abeg ooo” suggesting belief in the narrative.
Another commentator, Phina Ebi said: “Conjoin twins.”
Due to some readers’ comments that suggest that they believed the narrative, DUBAWA conducted this verification to set the record straight.
Verification
DUBAWA investigation revealed that the artwork originated from famous pyrotechnics and a prop expert, Onilogbo Hakeem Effect. He posted the image on his Facebook page on March 5, 2024, and a video of the art on his Instagram page. The video background also reflected a movie scene, and Hakeem Effect’s caption revealed it is an artistic work for Kunle Afolayan’s movie Anikulapo Series.
“Anikulapo series of the spectre, if you can think the impossibilities @hakeemeffect will bring to life. Thanks to Kunle Afo for thinking out of the box,” part of the Onilogbo Hakeem Effect caption with the video reads.
Hakeem Effects [Hakeem Onilogbo Ajibola] is a Nollywood make-up artist specialising in special effects. He is also the founder and chief Executive of “Trick International,” a special effects and prosthetics company serving a range of productions in the Nollywood Film Industry. He has worked on films like Omo ghetto, King of Boys, and the Sagaf. One of his latest works was on the Anikulapo film.
“Anikulapo: Rise of the Spectre” is a six-part epic TV mini-series based on the successful 2022 movie “Anikulapo”, directed and produced by Kunle Afolayan. The film was launched on Netflix on March 1, in over 190 countries across the globe.
Conclusion
The images in question do not depict a two-headed man arriving in Nigeria. It is an artistic work, used to represent a character in the Anikulapo series. The claim is, therefore, misleading.
The researcher produced this fact-check for the DUBAWA 2024 Kwame KariKari Fellowship, in partnership with Olufisoye Adenitan, FRCN positive fm Akure Ondo state Nigeria, to facilitate the ethos of “truth” in journalism and enhance media literacy in the country.