Over the weekend, a video went viral purportedly showing a lecturer of the University of Benin (UNIBEN) with a gun to invigilate students sitting for the ongoing first semester examinations of the school.
According to the Instagram blog where the news originated from, the lecturer arrived the exam hall in the Faculty of Physical Sciences to invigilate an exam with the gun which made students revolt.
The video which was first published on Saturday on the Instagram blog (not on CAMPUS GIST) has since garnered over 591, 188 views, 59, 940 likes and 6, 085 comments as at late Tuesday afternoon.
The University of Benin (UNIBEN), a federal higher institution of learning, is located in the heart of Ugbowo, in Benin City, Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo State, South South, Nigeria.
Meanwhile, checks by CAMPUS GIST shows that the news is FAKE as the video had been doctored and manipulated to make it appear real as if the man was indeed a lecturer at UNIBEN.
But independent findings by this online medium revealed that the man in the viral video is not a lecturer but a security personnel going about a “special assignment” outside the examination hall.
According to an eyewitness and a student in the faculty of Physical Sciences, the students had mistaken the security officer for a lecturer thereby denying him presence around the faculty premises.
In a chat with CAMPUS GIST, Monday, the Faculty Governor, Christopher Osahon Edevbaro, while debunking the viral video, asked the students to help report the publisher for misinformation and fake news.
He said the video was “doctored to serve the misinformersʼ agenda”, insisting that the man in the video is not a lecturer but a security officer who appeared on mufti, going about a special assignment outside the examination hall.
“We therefore condemn this act of junk journalism and misinformation from Instablog and implore the channel to delete the said video and desist from spreading misinformation as the said video has affected the students' community negatively.
“We also implore our students to help report the said VIDEO to Instagram for FAKE NEWS and not to have anything to do with Instablog and its associates or agents,” the Faculty Governor, Christopher Osahon Edevbaro, added.
On his part, a member of the UNIBEN Students' Union Government (SUG), who craved anonymity, told CAMPUS GIST that the man in the viral video was a security officer and not a lecturer.
“We have done our findings, and we came to discover that the man in question is a security officer and not a lecturer as alleged. It was just a little misunderstanding which has since been handled,” he said.
The Public Relations Officer of the University, Dr. Benedicta Ehanire, could not be immediately reached for comment. A close source in her office told CAMPUS GIST that the veteran broadcaster was out on an official assignment as at that time.
CONCLUSION:
No UNIBEN lecturer carried a gun into the exam hall to invigilate or intimidate students sitting for the ongoing first semester examinations of the school as alleged in some quarters. The news is fake and should therefore be disregarded.
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