Aso Villa Fire Incident is Fake News
The Claim
A fire broke out and engulfed the Nigerian President’s Villa in Aso Rock, Nigeria, causing tensions.
News posted on
Emerging story
Social media posts on Twitter and Facebook began circulating on 6th March, claiming a fire that broke out inside the Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari’s villa in Aso Rock, Nigeria. Users claimed an explosion caused the fire; others stated the President was inside the mansion and called for safety.
Social media users also claimed the fire caused severe tensions to rise.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbars investigation found the claims to be misleading. In a series of tweets, the presidential spokesman Garba Shehu clarified the incident that occurred.
He confirmed there was no fire inside the presidential villa, saying that on the evening of March 6, “a fire broke out burning shrubs between the outer wire fence and walls surrounding the Villa, precisely in the area between the Villa and the Barracks, towards Asokoro.” He further added that the “bush fire” started and ended outside the villa's parameters. The firefighters quickly responded to the accident.
No loss of life or property was reported. Shehu speculates that the cause of the fire may have been a passerby throwing a cigarette.
However, the fire service is still investigating to find the cause of the fire.
Moreover, the two images do not depict the presidential villa in any way.
A Google reverse image search showed the engulfed building's picture is from a fire that broke out on 15 April 2020 at the Dugbe market.
The firemen's picture on the fire trucks putting out a fire was found here in a May 2018 article, as seen below.
Therefore the Misbar team concludes the claim as misleading. There was outside the President's residence, and no one was hurt.
Yet, the images accompanying the circulating claim are old.
