Nigeria: No, Viral Video Doesn't Show 'Islamic Extremists' Removing Christian Billboard in Nigeria's Kwara State

11 December 2025
Africa Check (Johannesburg)
By Muktar Balogun

No, viral video doesn't show 'Islamic extremists' removing Christian billboard in Nigeria's Kwara state

IN SHORT: A video is circulating on Facebook with claims that it shows "Islamic extremists" taking down a billboard with a Christmas greeting in Kwara state, Nigeria. But the claim is false. The footage was taken in late 2024 and reportedly tied to political rivalry and signage regulations, not religious intolerance.

Several Facebook users have posted a video that they claim shows "Islamic extremists" dismantling a "Merry Christmas" billboard in Kwara state, north-central Nigeria.

The video shows some men taking down a big banner with the face of Saliu Mustapha, the senator representing Kwara Central Senatorial District. The banner reads: "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year."

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In one post, the video has the caption: "So its now making MORE sense to everyone NOW. For those saying its not a christain genocidee that is going on. Can you now see an Islamic EXTREMISTS dismantles a 'MERRY CHRISTMAS' Banner In Kwara state?"

While it is a multi-religious state with a significant Christian population, the majority of people in Kwara state are Muslims.

In October 2025, US president Donald Trump designated Nigeria as a "country of particular concern", citing what he called Christian persecution. Trump also threatened to send the US army to Nigeria to "completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities".

A "country of particular concern" is a designation for a country engaged in severe violations of religious freedom under the US's International Religious Freedom Act.

In response, the Nigerian government denied claims made by Trump, saying "characterisation of Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality".

The same video and claim were found here, here, here and here.

But what exactly does the video show? We checked.

Old video

Africa Check broke down the video into keyframes and ran them through a reverse image search. We found that the same video first appeared online in December 2024 with the caption: "Senator Saliu Mustapha's Christmas billboards were mysteriously taken down across Ilorin."

Ilorin is a city in Kwara state.

We searched the internet for anything related to that caption and found news reports on the incident. According to reports, the incident was linked to internal rivalries within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party ahead of the 2027 senatorial and governorship elections. Mustapha is a member of the APC.

However, the general manager of the Kwara State Signage and Advertising Agency, Ismail Asukuti, told the media that some of the billboards were removed due to construction work and non-payment of advertising fees.

The claim that the video shows "Islamic extremists" taking down a billboard with a Christian message in Nigeria's Kwara state is false. The video was first posted online months before Trump made claims of Christian persecution in the West African country and captured an incident that was allegedly linked to political squabbles and signage regulations.

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

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