Nigeria: No Evidence Video Shows Soldiers Deployed to Fight Terrorists in Northwestern Nigeria

11 December 2024
Africa Check (Johannesburg)
By Denzel Amobi

No evidence video shows soldiers deployed to fight terrorists in northwestern Nigeria

IN SHORT: A video has been posted on Facebook claiming to show soldiers deployed to the northwestern parts of Nigeria in September 2024 to find a notorious gangster and others like him. However, the video first appeared online months before the military was deployed to the area.

"OPERATION END BELLO TURJI Special squad deployed to Zamfara, Sokoto Kebbi, and Katsina to bring Bello Turji and there likes within 48 days," reads the caption of a video posted on Facebook on 6 September 2024.

The video shows armed men in military uniforms running in one direction in the middle of the street.

Some of them can be heard speaking in Hausa, a language widely spoken in northern Nigeria.

Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi and Katsina are states in northwestern Nigeria.

Bello Turji is one of the leaders of a terrorist group operating in the northern parts of the country. His group is reportedly heavily armed and targets homes, stealing livestock, money and other belongings before kidnapping people.

The same video and claim can be found here, here and here.

But does the video show soldiers deployed to the northwestern region to flush out Turji and his gang? We checked.

Old video

A Google reverse image search of a screenshot from the video revealed that it first appeared online in July 2024.

The video was posted on the Facebook page Nigerian Military Gallery, with the caption: "Nigerian army Recruits on 40km endurance race."

The page claims to be "dedicated to the men of the Nigerian armed forces (Army, Navy and Airforce)" and regularly posts images and videos of Nigerian military personnel seemingly performing their duties.

On 1 September, Nigeria's minister of state for defence Bello Mohammed Matawalle deployed military chiefs to several states in the northwestern region, including Sokoto and Zamfara, to restore peace and security. They were also tasked with "supervising operations and ensuring that Bello Turji and his Bandits gang are flushed out".

Matawalle announced the deployment in a press statement published on the ministry's official website. But the statement was not accompanied by the video circulating on social media.

Furthermore, none of the media outlets that reported on the deployment featured the circulating video.

The claim that the video shows special military forces deployed to Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi and Katsina states to eliminate terrorists is false.

Read the original story, with links and other resources.
Africa Check is a non-partisan organisation which promotes accuracy in public debate and in the media. Twitter @AfricaCheck and www.africacheck.org

Tagged:
Copyright © 2024 Africa Check. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.

AllAfrica publishes around 600 reports a day from more than 100 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct.

Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica. To address comments or complaints, please Contact us.