Nigeria: Video of Nigerian Police Struggling With Two Men Over Firearm Is From 2022, Not Recent

8 May 2026
Africa Check (Johannesburg)
By Precious Ewuji

Video of Nigerian police struggling with two men over firearm is from 2022, not recent

IN SHORT: A viral video showing a heated confrontation between Nigerian police officers and two men over a firearm is being shared as a recent event in May 2026. However, the video dates back to 2022.

"Nigeria Police are on this one again. This is very disappointing. IGP must see this video and something must be done," reads the caption of a video posted on Facebook in Nigeria.

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The video shows a tense confrontation on a public road between two Nigerian police officers and two men. One officer holds a man by his shirt, while the other officer struggles with a second man over a firearm.

The officers can be heard telling the men "leave the gun" while the men repeatedly shout "where is the phone?".

Confrontations like this are not new in Nigeria. For years, Nigerians have reported police harassment and excessive use of force, concerns that sparked the EndSARS protests in 2020.

The movement began as a campaign against the now-disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), and highlighted systemic issues within the police force, including unlawful arrests and extortion.

Recently, groups such as Amnesty International have noted continued use of excessive force during public demonstrations in Nigeria.

But does this video show an incident from 2026? We checked.

Video not recent

Africa Check broke the video into keyframes and ran a Google reverse image search. The results show the incident occurred in 2022, years before its recent recirculation.

We also found the same version of the video uploaded to YouTube in 2022.

Further search showed multiple news reports from 2022 confirming the incident. At the time, Muyiwa Adejobi, former police spokesperson, said those involved should have reported the assault to the authorities instead of taking the law into their hands.

"It is trite that two wrongs cannot make a right, as such whatever the provocation, the action of the individuals were wrong in all ramifications as they would have reported the matter for prompt action," Adejobi was quoted as saying.

While the incident is real, it is not recent in 2026, as claimed online. The claim is misleading.

More instances of this misleading claim can be found here, here, here and here.

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. X @AfricaCheck and www.africacheck.org

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