Video shows people gathered near Lekki toll gate in Nigeria's Lagos state, not 'thugs' hijacking anti-government protests in Ajah
IN SHORT: False claims about anti-government protests have been circulating on social media in Nigeria. One of them claims that a video shows "thugs" hijacking the protests in Ajah, Lagos state. But there is no evidence for this.
Nigeria has been rocked by anti-government protests since 1 August 2024.
The protests have been labelled "10 days of rage" and are expected to continue until 10 August. Many Nigerians are also showing their support for the demonstrations on social media by using the hashtags #EndBadGovernance and #EndBadGovernanceProtests.
The protests aim to draw attention to widespread dissatisfaction with the government's economic policies, high inflation and the removal of the fuel subsidy.
In this context, a video has been posted on social media with the claim that "thugs" hijacked the protests in Ajah, Lagos state.
The video is captioned: "We just got information that protest has started in ajah but thugs has attacked them now...this thugs you're seeing here just moved to ajah now to cause problems on #protest #protesters #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria."
Similar posts can be found here and here. (Note: See more instances listed at the end of this report.)
But does the video show a group of "thugs" gathered in Ajah? We checked.
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Video doesn't show Ajah
On 30 July, the Lagos state high court ruled that the protests must be confined to Gani Fawehinmi Freedom Park and Peace Park.
Despite the ruling, protesters gathered in the city of Lagos, Ikeja and at the Lekki toll gate. The toll gate is located along the Lekki-Epe Expressway in Lagos state.
There were no reports of protests in Ajah at the time of publication.
A close look at the structures in the video also shows similarities with photos of the Lekki toll gate, as seen here and here.
The toll gate has also been the focal point of several important events, including the EndSARS protests in October 2020, where demonstrators gathered to protest against police brutality.
Africa Check also used Google Maps to identify the structures in the video. Some of the buildings seen in the video can be spotted around the Lekki toll gate.
Although it's unclear when the video was taken, it was not shot in Ajah.
