Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, has flagged photos circulating online as images of kidnapped schoolchildren from Oyo State saying they are actually old pictures of maltreated pupils in Mali.

The presidential aide disclosed this in a recent post on his official X handle, formerly Twitter.

He traced the photos to a June 2020 incident in Mali where a teacher punished students, noting that the pictures have no connection to the Oyo victims.

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“Pictures taken in Mali in June 2020, when a teacher flogged his young students, have been shared on social media to make people believe they are the pictures of the abducted Oyo students, an analysis by Africa54Research has revealed,” he stated.

Onanuga condemned the spread of the photos and appealed to the public to stop sharing unverified content, emphasizing that misinformation hampers rescue operations and fuels public anxiety.

He confirmed that security agencies are intensifying efforts to secure the safe release of the abducted children and their teachers.

“The distributors of the images are most probably terrorists’ sympathisers, out to sow fears in our society and paint the government and the security forces black, as the government is making efforts to get the kids and their teachers released,” he added.

Abdulbaqi Jibreel Ajao