Fact Check: Did Nigerian Army Arrest Thousands of Bandits in Niger State in a New Video?

Fact Check: Did the Nigerian Army Arrest Thousands of Bandits in Niger State in a New Video?

Claim: An online video which originated from Tik Tok claims that the Nigerian Army arrested thousands of bandits in the Kontagora axis of Niger State.

Full Text: The video which is now being widely disseminated on WhatsApp was accompanied by the following text, “A successful operation in Niger state by Nigerian Army Arrested thousands of bandits Along Kontagora yesterday.”

Recently, the Nigerian military held a mass burial for soldiers who lost their lives in an attack and plane crash in Niger state.

The burial ceremony was conducted for 20 deceased personnel at the National Military Cemetery Abuja in line with military tradition.

It also signifies a mark of honour for their gallantry and sacrifice in defence of the nation.

The bodies of the 20 deceased personnel arrived at the cemetery from Kaduna at noon for the funeral, as some of the fallen heroes had since been buried in other locations.

Verification: One of the videos shared on WhatsApp had the watermark of a TikTok handle @msarki.com. However, a thorough review of the profile revealed the clip had been taken down by the user. 

PRNigeria Fact-checkers therefore broke the video into several keyframes and each keyframe was used to run a reverse image search. No substantial result turned up, but a Youtube channel with the same video was detected with a different caption that reads, “Boko Haram surrender to Nigerian Army due to Hunger.” 

The X (formerly twitter) official handle of the Nigerian Army was reviewed and there was no information released by the Army that is related to the claim. Similarly, the official X handle of the Defence Headquarters has no information that is related to the claim in anyway.  

Further keyword search online shows that there was no official press statement from the Nigerian Military that supports the claim. 

When contacted, a defence intelligence source told PRNigeria that the clip was not from a Nigerian Army operation in Niger State but originated from an illegal mining location somewhere in the country. 

The source added that most of the suspects in the video were not Nigerians but other Africans in the illicit business.

Upon further investigation, PRNigeria discovered that the clip originated from Taraba State where over 3,500 illegal miners were arrested at Dogon Yatsu forest in Bali Local Government Area of the state, by the special task force on illegal mining and deforestation.

Chairman of the Task Force, Brigadier General Jeremiah Faransa (Rtd), told newsmen that the unlicensed miners arrested were from Mali, Senegal, Chad, Zamfara and other parts of the country.

Conclusion: Findings by PRNigeria reveal that the video emanated from a special operation against suspected illegal miners in Taraba State.

PRNigeria therefore concludes that the claim that the footage emerged from a Nigerian Army operation leading to the arrest of thousands of Bandits in Niger state is MISLEADING and FALSE. 

By PRNigeria