APC Propaganda Busted: Police Reuse 2023 Photo of Armoured Personnel Carrier Under Buhari to Falsely Showcase Tinubu Commissioning Same Equipment in 2024
On August 31, 2024, the Nigerian Police Force found itself at the center of controversy after it was revealed that a photo used to showcase the commissioning of new Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) by President Bola Tinubu was actually from 2023.
The image, originally taken during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari, was reused by the police to falsely promote the current government’s efforts to enhance national security.
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Police Spokesperson Prince Olumuyiwa Adejobi shared the photo on social media, claiming that “another set of APCs is ready for commissioning by the president,” adding that the development was “commendable and awesome.”
However, this claim is untrue. A check by our reporter using Google Lens, a fact-checking tool, showed that the image was first published in 2023 by Freedom Online. Concerned citizens, who recognized the photo from a previous event held in 2023, sparked outrage over what many viewed as deliberate misinformation.
The X (formerly Twitter) community responsible for fact-checking placed a note under the post and tagged it as false information and propaganda. The X community note reads: “This is clearly propaganda by the incompetent Nigerian Police Force. The image used was taken from a news post from February 2023, where the former President of Nigeria, Buhari (another incompetent President like the current one), was said to have commissioned the Armoured Personnel Carriers.”
The incident has led to widespread criticism of the police and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for engaging in what has been described as propaganda.
This false representation undermines public trust in both the police force and the current administration. The reuse of the 2023 photo raises serious questions about the integrity of official communications and the lengths to which the government may go to portray its achievements, particularly in the sensitive area of national security.
