Picture of Nigerian Soldiers in training. Photo source: Africa Centre for Strategic Studies
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Claim: An X user shared a video claiming to show personnel of the Nigerian Army destroying people’s farms after residents allegedly confronted Fulani herders whose cattle had destroyed their crops, suggesting soldiers are now protectors of “Fulani terrorists.”
Verdict: False. The video dates back to 2021 and was debunked by the Nigerian Army at the time as a doctored clip designed to denigrate its personnel.
Full Text
On Aug. 2, 2026, an X user, Daniel Somtochukwu (@Somtolism7), shared a video showing a trampled farmland with crops destroyed, claiming Nigerian Army personnel were responsible.
The post’s caption reads, “Nigerian Army personnel were reportedly seen destroying people’s farms after residents allegedly confronted Fulani herders whose cattle had destroyed their crops. Isn’t it obvious that Nigerian soldiers are now protectors of Fulani terrorists?”
The post, archived here, had garnered 24,000 views, 115 comments, 921 reposts, and 793 likes as of Aug. 4, 2026.
The post stirred reactions along ethnic and institutional-distrust lines, with many commenters framing the footage as proof that the Nigerian Army now works in the interest of Fulani herders.
“Know this, in Nigeria the Army is your Enemy, the police is your Enemy,” @DerealCEO wrote. This comment attracted 741 impressions.
“This is the Nigerian Army they are asking South East to join,” @greasedbygrace asked.
“It’s obvious that the Nigerian Army are now tools in the hands of Fulani herders,” @Dika_scorch declared.
“The army is giving them cover,” @GeraldUkperu wrote.
Responding to a commenter who cautioned that men in military gear are not always soldiers, the original poster, @Somtolism7, insisted, “These particular ones are Nigerian soldiers according to the report.”
Given the post’s high engagement and potential to mislead the public about the conduct of Nigerian military personnel and inflame ethnic tensions, DUBAWA decided to verify both the footage and the claim attached to it.
Verification
We conducted reverse image and keyword searches across multiple video frames to determine the video’s earliest known origin.
The earliest instance we identified was a 2021 Facebook post by the Biafra News App that shared the same footage of men in camouflage uniforms in a farm setting. This confirms the video had already been in circulation years before the recent post by @Somtolism7.
The footage corresponds to a viral video that circulated widely on social media in July 2021, showing men dressed in green camouflage destroying farmland in an undisclosed location. The video was widely shared at the time with claims that it showed the actions of the Nigerian Army.
This assertion, however, was debunked by the Nigerian Army, as reported by multiple news platforms (TVC News, Vanguard, The ICIR, and The Guardian).
The Nigerian Army described the video as “a deliberate propaganda by Eastern Security Network (ESN) to bring the reputation and image of the Nigerian Army to disrepute by portraying personnel of the Nigerian Army as enemies of the people.”
However, despite the Army’s 2021 disclaimer, the same video resurfaced in 2025, when X user Chinasa (@chinasanworu) shared it, and now again in 2026 by @Somtolism7. This confirms a pattern of the same 2021 footage being periodically recirculated, stripped of context, to different audiences over several years.
We found no evidence of a recent incident matching the video’s content around August 2026, nor any fresh statement from the Nigerian Army, the Defence Headquarters, or any other security agency describing a similar event.
Conclusion
The video shared by @Somtolism7 is not recent. It is the same footage that went viral in July 2021 and was debunked by the Nigerian Army as a doctored video designed to denigrate its personnel, with no verified link to any actual soldiers or a documented location. The clip has also been recirculated online multiple times.
This fellowship is implemented by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) with support from the European Union.
