Video of Nigerian military academy initiation goes viral with false claim it shows 'Africans selling Africans' to work in DRC mines
IN SHORT: A video circulating on social media isn't evidence of "Africans selling Africans" in 2024 or at any time. It shows recruits at a Nigerian military academy.
"Africans selling Africans in the Congo to work in the mines. 2024."
That's the common caption for a video circulating on social media in May and June 2024.
The 30-second clip shows dozens of dirt-covered men with shaved heads, wearing only shorts, huddled together on what appears to be a beach. Men in blue and black uniforms stand around them, giving orders and occasionally laughing.
The text on the screen reads: "This is how it happened 400 years ago! They were marched to the beach where they were sold."
This is a reference to the transatlantic slave trade of the 1500s to 1900s. Up to 13 million people were kidnapped from different regions of Africa and taken west across the Atlantic Ocean. They were to be sold into slavery in North America, South America and the Caribbean.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is a Central African country rich in minerals such as gold, copper and cobalt. Several international mining companies operate there.
Yet it remains one of the five poorest countries in the world. The DRC's mineral wealth is said to be driving conflict in the country.
Over the years there have been reports of human rights abuses, child labour and even "modern-day slavery" in the DRC's mining industry.
The video has also been posted with comments such as:
- Why does everyone care about slavery from 200 years ago but nobody cares about this?
- Where are the students of Colombia, UCLA, NYU? Where is the media?
- Good Question BUT Where are the DEMOCRAP LIBTURDS?, Where are the BLM?, Where are the ANTIFA?
BLM is Black Lives Matter, a social movement that went global after the murder of George Floyd by US police officers in 2020. Antifa stands for anti-fascist.
The claim has also been recently posted in languages such as Portuguese, Spanish, French, Urdu, Polish and Greek.
So does the video show "Africans selling Africans" in 2024? We checked.
'A lot of people are very ignorant'
In comments on the video, social media users point out that the men in uniform are speaking Yoruba. This is a language spoken in Nigeria and surrounding West African countries. It's not spoken in the DRC.
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One comment reads, in part: "If you understand the language they're speaking, you won't have tweeted this rubbish. They're actually undergoing a military/cadet training."
Other users agree that the clip shows some kind of military training, possibly in Nigeria.
Africa Check took screenshots of frames from the video and ran them through reverse image searches.
This led us to what seems to be the original version, posted on TikTok in July 2023, without the text on the screen.
"This day is always a memorable day," the caption reads. It tags other TikTok users. One is the account of the Maritime Department of the Institute of Transport and Management Technology (ITMT), a military training academy in Lagos, Nigeria.
Another video from the same account, posted in May 2024, shows a scene similar to the one in the viral video. The text on the screen reads: "Congratulations to you guys on your final training (BAPTISM)."
It turns out that "baptism" is just an initiation ceremony at ITMT.
"It is quite surprising a lot of people are very ignorant," ITMT academic director Cynthia Chidera Ahamefule told AFP Nigeria fact-checker Sahmad Uthman in late May.
"It is a drill called baptism, for new cadets who are just admitted into the school."
Uthman's full fact-check can be seen here. It includes recent photos provided by Ahamefule, which confirm that the video shows the "baptism" of recruits at ITMT.
