Claim: A verified X user, Usman (@secmxx), claimed security forces airlifted unidentified fighters at Kaboji Primary School in Mashegu LGA.
Verdict: Misleading! While we couldn’t verify the details of those involved, we confirmed that the incident occurred, but the helicopter landed at an old cemetery, not Kaboji Primary School.
Full Text
A verified X user, @secmxx, posted (archived here) a video on July 2, 2026, showing suspected security and bandits hoisting injured fighters of bandit kingpin Dogo Gide into the helicopter with crowds watching from afar.
The clip’s caption reads, “Some injured unidentified fighters are being airlifted from Kaboji primary school in Mashegu LGA of Niger state…”
The user added that these bandits arrived in Tashan Bare, Mashegu LGA, Niger State, from Zamfara, and they requested 30 gallons of petrol and cooked meals.
As of July 4, 2026, the post has attracted over 31,000 views, 32 comments, 44 reposts, 97 reactions, and 65 bookmarks.
Reacting to the post, an X user, DavidEdu (@Dave92025002) wrote, “Please clarify this post. Do you mean the terrorists are flying helis?
Another X user, Brigs (@Brigs247286) commented, “It’s not true dogo dyde arrived the scene with his car and left with the helicopter and he was waving like a Nigerian president.”
A verified X user, Larry King (@mrlarryking2), asked, “The injured fighters being lifted are they Nigerian security forces?”
The claim has since gone viral here, here, here, here, here and here on Facebook.
Given the security situation in Northern Nigeria and the possibility for content like this to incite fear and mislead, DUBAWA decided to verify it.
Verification
When DUBAWA extracted keyframes from the clip and subjected the images to Invid verification tools, we did not find any images related to the viral claim.
However, DUBAWA spoke to two eyewitnesses from Kaboji, a village in Mashegu of Niger State, where the helicopter landed.
The residents corroborated the claimant’s account that the helicopter helped airlift the wounded bandits in the village, but didn’t land in the primary school of the village.
Mahadi Kaboji, an eyewitness, said the helicopter landed at the cemetery, not the primary school, as claimed by the viral posts.
“It is an old cemetery. It is not close to the primary school at all. They used a Nigerian Police Force helicopter to evacuate the injured fighters of Dogo Gide,” he told DUBAWA.
The source stated that the helicopter landed between 11 a.m and 12 p.m. and saw four army motor vehicles in Kaboji. He added that they positioned themselves at a mini hospital in the village where a Fulani man, believed to be Dogo Gide, emerged.
“He is very tall and wears a face mask. He gave his phone to residents to charge in the part of the hospital because they use solar light,” he added.
“While his phone was charging, his phone began to ring, then a man inside the hospital saw one of the callers’ names was ‘Kachalla Kebbi’. He collected his phone and started saying, ‘My boys are coming from the bush. So let the helicopter start coming,’ he explained.
Mahadi said that the helicopter hovered around the village three times before landing at the old cemetery.
“People ran and gathered there to see what would happen. The army moved to that old cemetery. There was one ambulance and three other army vehicles. When they reached that cemetery. We only saw four people inside.
“The first person was shot on the head, another one was shot on the leg, while two others were shot on the hand,” Mahadi said.
He stated that Dogo Gide entered the plane and left with the victim, adding that the injured victims were not army or police but young boys with dreadlocked hair.
Another resident, Sani Mohammed, told DUBAWA that “The helicopter didn’t drop at the primary school but at the old cemetery in the town. There is a distance between the primary school & the cemetery.”
“The injured fighters of Dogo Gide were evacuated using a helicopter and left with them. Four wounded victims were taken out of the bush and taken to the helicopter before being taken off,” Sani added.
In a post published on Jan. 12, 2026, the Borno State Police Command spokesperson, Nahum Kenneth, shared (archived here) photographs of a Nigerian Police Force helicopter in flight.
DUBAWA compared the aircraft registration number, 5N-MNS, visible on the helicopter in those images with the registration number on the helicopter seen in the viral video that allegedly evacuated fighters linked to Dogo Gide.
We found out that the numbers are the same as the inscriptions on the Police aircraft.
We contacted Wasiu Abiodun, the state police spokesman, but he declined to provide details of the incident. He said the operation was suspected to be carried out by the military.
“Well, it is a suspected military operation. I will advise you to reach out to the military for details of that movement,” he said.
Conclusion
The video allegedly showing a helicopter evacuating Dogo Gide’s fighter at Kaboji Primary School in the Mashegu area of Niger State is misleading. Our findings show that the helicopter landed at the old Kaboji cemetery, not at the primary school, as claimed in the viral post. The incident occurred on July 2, 2026.
This fellowship is implemented by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) with support from the European Union.