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Fact Check-Photo of damaged helicopter miscaptioned as alleged incident in Nigeria

A photo of a damaged helicopter window has been miscaptioned online by people who claim it was taken after being used by Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari in January 2023.

Social media users claim the photo of the broken cockpit glass was evidence that Buhari had escaped from “angry youths” who attacked his helicopter during a visit to Kano (here ) , (here ).

There were conflicting reports about the alleged incident (here , here , here) which are outside the scope of this check. However, a reverse image search revealed that the photo dates to at least April 1, 2022, and shows the aftermath of an incident in Soy Constituency, Kenya (here ).

According to local media, the helicopter of Kenya's opposition leader Raila Odinga was pelted with stones while he attended a burial (here ).

Odinga posted about the incident on Facebook: “In the event that took place at Kabenes in Uasin Gishu, youth attacked my plane, destroying the air shield with rocks that were clearly aimed at me. On my way to the plane, they had pelted my vehicles with stones. My mistake was to attend the burial of my long time friend Mr. Jackson Kibor. I thank the security officers who did everything to ensure our safety” (here ).

VERDICT

Miscaptioned. The photo dates back to at least April 2022.

This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here

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