Operatives of the Ogun State Police Command have arrested a 25-year-old fashion designer, Kowiu Oloyede, for allegedly spreading false information through viral videos claiming that bandits had invaded Atan in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area of the state.
The suspect reportedly confessed that he created and shared the videos on TikTok in a bid to gain popularity on social media like popular Nigerian streamer, Habeeb Hamzat, popularly known as Peller.
Kowiu, who resides on Sokoto Road in Atan-Ota, was said to have posted the first video on his TikTok page, “Nice Boy,” last Monday.
The clip showed him and two others hiding inside a bush while gunshot sounds played in the background.
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The video was captioned, “Bandit is in Atan, help us ooo.”
In the footage, the suspect appeared frightened while dressed in a white singlet and black shorts, claiming they could not find their mother amid the alleged attack.
Days later, on Wednesday, he uploaded another video showing himself kneeling beside another individual while alleging they had been kidnapped by a herdsman and begging for mercy.
The second video was later deleted on Thursday.
According to the suspect, the viral clips significantly increased activity on his TikTok account, with his followers reportedly rising from 60 to over 1,000.
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In an interview with the Ogun State Police Command, shared via their X handle on Tuesday, the suspect revealed that the intent of the video was to go viral and gain more followers on TikTok.
In a now translated video, the suspect who spoke in Yoruba language, said: “I was in my shop and I just noticed that people were using the gunshots sound on TikTok to make videos and were gaining followers so I decided to do the same.
“I felt that’s where Peller started from to become famous. I didn’t know it will put me into trouble. Some many people used the sound online, they do it in the bush and sometimes in their house, so I decided to do it at the back of my shop. My younger ones helped me to film the whole process.
“When I made the first video with the gunshot sound, I went viral and had many comments and when people were asking if it was real, I told them it was just content.
“So the video gave me morale to do the second one. The Fulani man in the video is a regular person that brings his cows to our area and I know him, so I walked up to him and told him to join me in doing the second video, but he refused. I knelt down to beg him and he asked why I was kneeling, telling me to stand up.
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“That was how we got his voice into the second video because unknown to him, my younger ones were already recording,” Kowiu added.
