FACT-CHECK: Did the Nigerian Troops Kill 50 Bandits in Zungeru Axis of Niger State in a New Video?  

FACT-CHECK: Did the Nigerian Troops Kill 50 Bandits in Zungeru Axis of Niger State in a New Video?  

CLAIM: There was a gory video of bandits going viral on social media platforms claiming that the Nigerian Army annihilated scores of them in a firefight in Kundu Along Zungeru-Tegina Road in Niger State after recent attacks on troops and the crash of NAF Helicopter.

The claim was also largely forwarded several times to many whatsapp groups. 

FULL-TEXT: The text that accompanied the footage reads, “ Bandits killed after gun battle with army in Kundu along Zungeru Tegina road.”

Similarly, the text attached to the video shared massively to WhatsApp groups which was detected by PRNigeria reads, “Bandits killed after gun battle with army in Kundu along Zungeru Tegina road. These are some of the miscreants that ambushed our gallant soldier and killed 36 of them last week. Now they have met their Waterloo. Danboronba sege. Viewers desecration pls [sic].”

VERIFICATION: PRNigeria ran an online search and results revealed that Vanguard and DailyPost among other leading media outlets have reported that no fewer than 50 bandits and an unspecified number of soldiers were killed in a firefight in Kundu village near Zungeru in Wushishi Local Government Area of Niger state.

The Vanguard published, “The bandits were said to have been terrorizing Kundu village near Zungeru in Wushishi Local Government Area of the state in the past few days, leading to troops deploying to chase them out of the council.

“The bandits were said to have settled in the area with their cows and other domestic animals rustled from villagers within and outside the communities in the area.

“It was gathered that some senior military officers also lost their lives to the bandits. The killing of the military men, it was gathered, occurred on the weekend.”

An eyewitness resident of the area who doesn’t want his name to be mentioned due to fear of future victimization confirmed the incidence to PRNigeria via phone. 

“The remains of the military men were kept at the Zungeru Federal Medical Centre while that of bandits were left littering at the firefight scene,” he said. 

However, when PRNigeria extracted the accompanying video to the claim and ran a reverse image search, it revealed that the video was actually an old clip from 2021 when Nigerian troops killed ISWAP commanders, others, and destroyed their training bases at Lake Chad.  

In 2021, PRNigeria had reported how troops had eliminated the insurgents while repelling an attack launched by the terror group at Chabbal community within the axis.

The sweeping operation occurred at the time when Nigeria’s current Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Gwabin Musa was the Theatre Commander, Operation Hadin Kai, in the North East. 

While reacting to the troops’ feat then, Gen. Musa commended their gallantry and urged them not to relent on prosecuting the counter-insurgency operations, till Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorists are defeated.

CONCLUSION: Based on the findings by PRNigeria, the claim that scores of bandits were killed by the gallant Nigerian military recently in Niger is substantiated by both military officials and a credible eyewitness who spoke to this medium. However, an old video taken two years ago (2021) was used to accompany the claim. 

PRNigeria therefore concludes that it is TRUE that no fewer than 50 bandit-terrorists were killed at a spot in Zungeru in Wushishi Local Government Area of Niger state but the video used in accompanying the claim is MISLEADING. 

By PRNigeria