Summary: A claim has been circulating that a man named Uche Abagana was killed in Kano as a retaliation to the Uromi killings in Edo state.
The post has been in circulation since 30th of March 2025, three days after the Uromi Killings.
The post reads:
“The IPOB leadership is being informed that an Igbo individual named Uche Abagana was killed this morning by Northerners at Kofa Ruwa market in Kano due to the Uromi incident. He attempted to argue that the events in Uromi were unrelated to him, but sadly, he was assaulted by a group of men and lost his life this Sunday morning, 30/03/2025.
Reports suggest that Igbo communities have been advised to limit their movements and commerce to “Sabo Ngeri” exclusively, and these communities are urging Igbos to stay inside as tensions escalate in northern Nigeria.
We all need to remain very vigilant.
Share widely” .
This claim was also reported by other blogs as could be seen here, here and here.
Uromi Killings
On the 27th of March 2025, a truck coming from Port Harcourt, conveying 25 travellers from Elele, a suburb of Rivers State headed to Kano was accosted by some vigilante group members at Uromi, Edo state.
Some of the travellers were said to have been in possession of Local Dane guns which made them raise an alarm of being suspected kidnappers before 16 of them were eventually lynched, Full details here.
This incident have sparked many reactions and debates with many linking it to tribal and religious differences.
Verification
To verify this claim, a systematic fact-checking process was undertaken, involving tracing the claim’s origin, analyzing credible news reports, as well as comments and reactions from other online users.
It was discovered that most of the posts were shared by individuals or pages linked to the IPOB movement and sympathetic to the Igbo cause.
None of the claims had pictures or videos as supporting evidence to ascertain the credibility of the information except for one which has an AI generated image claiming to be the deceased.
A review of newspaper articles from all the major Nigerian outlets such as Vanguard, The Punch, The Guardian Nigeria, and Premium Times, which reported about the Uromi Killings have not made any report of such reprisal killings in Kano.
Online users have also debunked the claims as being false asserting that an Igbo man truly died in Kano but was not killed by anyone. Eyewitnesses revealed that the man slumped and died, contrary to reports that he was killed by northerners as these posts have claimed.
Such comments could be seen here, here and here.
Similar claims had surfaced online about Igbo Passengers being burnt to death as a form of retaliation which have been debunked here and here.
Verdict
The claim is a false one as there is no authentic source tied to a news report or even a picture/video recording of the alleged victim.
Fact Checking this claim which is important because it is crucial to national security as such claims can cause disunity among tribes thereby leading to mayhem and violence in the country.
Several hate comments can be found under those posts by people who have believed the story and if not properly addressed could lead to disruption of peace in those areas.
Efforts have been made by the Government and security agencies to settle the issue and restore peace to the affected states.
This verification has been produced with support from BO Foundation for inclusive media (BOFIM) and THE WITNESS .