A claim that the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) recovered 237 vibrators from female corps members in Cross River State has been circulating on social media platforms since Monday. Multiple versions of the same claim have appeared on Facebook, for instance, here, here and here.

Similar versions have also made the rounds on X. The most engaged of such claims came from Wale Bolatito, an X user, on Wednesday. At press time, Bolatito’s post had gathered well over 100,000 views, with different opinionated reactions from other Nigerians.

Bolatito styled his claim as a headline.

“Breaking: 237 vibrators recovered from ladies in NYSC Cross River Camp,” read the viral post.

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THE CLAIM HAS A HISTORY OF VARIATIONS

FIJ’s attempt to verify the claim revealed two major things.

First, the claim is not as recent as purported in the posts that have been making the rounds on social media.

Secondly, there have been different versions of the claim with different variables — sometimes, the number of vibrators and other times, the location of recovery.

Some X users made similar claims in January. Others specified the number of sex toys, without adding a location. Some added a location without specifying the number. Examples of these can be found here and here.

A relatively popular version of this quote surfaced in 2023 when blogs and social media users claimed that 237 vibrators were recovered from the NYSC camp in Kwara State. Some of such claims can be found here, here and here. In these instances, the different variable was the location.

Another version of this claim was also posted in 2022. Some of these claims specified the number of sex toys recovered — 237 in some cases, 784 in some — without specifying the location. Some other users did not specify the number or location. In one post that FIJ found, the user said the recovery happened in Edo State. Examples can be found here, here and here.

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NYSC DENIED THE CLAIM IN 2023

The rumour became so widespread in 2023 that the NYSC issued an official statement denying it confiscated vibrators from corps members in Kwara State.

The statement, published on NYSC’s social media pages in May, dismissed the reports as pure fiction. Eddy Megwa, then Director of Press and Public Relations for the NYSC, called the story an attention-seeking fabrication.

He also oddly referred to the imagined incident as ‘moral decadence’.

“I wish to state categorically that such moral decadence never happened at Yikpata camp. This report is purely a product of the writer’s imagination, designed to attract media attention,” the statement read.

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NO EVIDENCE SUPPORTS THE CLAIM

FIJ spoke with two corps members currently deployed at Obubra Camp in Cross River. Both confirmed they had heard rumours but emphasised that there was no proof it happened there. Neither corps member reported hearing any official announcements about confiscated vibrators.

“When I came, there was no such thing among the people we arrived with. No announcement was made. I don’t think they announce everything here,” said Peace Ayorinde, a female corps member, on Thursday.

Additionally, this same rumour has been recycled for over two years across various locations, yet none of these claims have been backed by any media evidence.

The indications suggest that the claim is nothing more than a recurring gossip purportedly circulated by microbloggers and influencers seeking engagement.

VERDICT

The claim that 237 vibrators were recovered from female corps members at the NYSC camp in Cross River is false. Beyond the absence of witnesses, this story has been recycled over the years without a shred of evidence to support it.