By Gbayesola Samuel
Claim:
A broadcasted status update claims that a peaceful protest over the abduction of pupils and teachers in the Ogbomoso was disrupted by the police, and that there were gunshots.
Verdict:
Misleading. There is no evidence pointing to the involvement of the police in the incident. Rather, available reports and video evidence suggest the disruption was linked to the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) leadership.
Full Text
A screenshot of a status update was seen in circulation on Tuesday, June 2, 2026, across groups for students living in Agbowo.
According to the update, whose source is yet to be identified, the police disrupted a peaceful protest along Bodija Road, Ibadan, Oyo State.
“If you are staying in Agbowo and you’re currently about to leave school, please stay back. A peaceful protest for the kidnapped kids was disrupted by the police just now and there are literally gunshots being fired in the air.”
The source further wrote that he had to run alongside protesters when the shooting started:
“I had to run with the protesters when they started shooting, because I was on my way back home. May we not lose our lives in the fight for a better nation,” the source added.
This fact-check examines whether the police indeed disrupted the protest.
Verification / Full Context
Findings by IndyPress indicate that while the protest was disrupted, it was not disrupted by the police.
To properly understand the incident, it is important to situate the protest within its immediate context. As reported by Premium Times, members of the Take-It-Back (TIB) Movement on Monday, June 1, 2026 staged a protest in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, over the abduction of pupils and teachers in the Ogbomoso axis of the state.
According to information gathered by IndyPress, the protest extended into the following day, including activities around Bodija on Tuesday.
It is within this broader sequence of events that reactions from the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) occurred.
Further ascertaining NANS involvement was a press statement issued by the NANS president, Babatunde Azeez (popularly known as Babatee) later on Tuesday, June 2, 2026.
According to him, “a group of unruly individuals,” as he described them, aggressively approached members of a NANS delegation due to their non-participation in the protest.
“En route to Oriire Local Government, we made a stop at a Conoil Filling Station in Bodija. While refueling more than 40 vehicles in my entourage, I observed a group of unruly individuals who, without provocation, aggressively approached members of our delegation, apparently because we did not join their protest,” Azeez said.
He further claimed that the protesters mobbed his group, after which a retaliation occurred:
“However, before I could turn my back, a mob came at us, and in a fierce manner, the Aluta Forces on the ground repelled them. It was at that point that I realized that these unruly individuals were members of the ‘Take It Back Movement.’”
Contrary to this framing, video evidence obtained by IndyPress shows that the protesters appeared largely peaceful and were not posing an immediate threat at the time of the confrontation.
The footage also suggests that police presence in the area was passive, with officers seen at certain points but not actively engaging in dispersing protesters as claimed in the viral message. In some instances, officers are seen withdrawing from the scene as tensions escalated.
Conclusion
Based on available eyewitness accounts, statements from involved parties, and video evidence reviewed by IndyPress, there is no substantiated proof that the police disrupted the Bodija protest or fired gunshots as claimed in the viral message.
Instead, evidence points to a distruption caused by elements within the NANS leadership entourage.
The claim attributing the disruption to the police is therefore misleading, as it misrepresents the actors involved and the sequence of events.
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