DUBAWA Round-Up: Late major general’s body, terrorists’ jailbreak, other claims fact-checked last week 

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Cole Praise

As people continue to share misinformation and disinformation across social media platforms, DUBAWA verified several public assertions shared during the last week. 

Below are some of the major claims verified: 

1. Bandits return retired Major General Rabe Abubakar’s body to his family

A former Director of Defence Information, Major General Rabe Abubakar, died while he was held in captivity by terrorists, alongside his wife, since May 30, 2026.

After the announcement of his death, former Nigerian senator Dino Melaye shared an image on Facebook, claiming that armed bandits delivered the slain general’s body to his family without being challenged.

DUBAWA conducted a manual examination of the image and observed several inconsistencies associated with Artificial Intelligence image manipulation. The image was also subjected to AI image-detection tools, which assessed it as AI-generated. 

Read more here.

2. Sokoto jailbreak after terrorists blow up prison walls  

Amidst the rampant invasion of terrorists across different parts of the country, a Facebook user shared a video of prisoners breaking out of a Sokoto prison facility, claiming they were terrorists.  

After we subjected the clip’s keyframes to Google Reverse Image Search, we discovered that a TikTok account outside Nigeria had previously shared a similar post. The language spoken in the video was identified as Oromo, which is linked to Ethiopia and some parts of Kenya. 

DUBAWA also observed several irregularities with the video, especially the unnatural movements of the prisoners. We subjected the video to Hive AI and Deepfake Detection tools, which identified it as AI-manipulated.

Read more here.

3. Video of bandits on aircraft in Nigeria 

A TikTok user shared a video of Nigerian bandits aboard an aircraft. In the viral reactionary video, the TikTok user explained how bandits boarded a plane and rhetorically asked which airport was used.

DUBAWA subjected keyframes from the video to Google Reverse Image Search. Our findings linked the footage to Somali security forces. The text associated with the initial post was also written in Somali. Moreover, the owner of the account that first shared the video bears a Somali name. 

More screenshots showed that the uniformed men aboard the aircraft wore military gear consistent with organised security personnel rather than criminal groups. We identified the individuals as Somali soldiers.

Read more here.

4. Chris Oyakhilome speaks on 2027 election

Ahead of the 2027 general election, an X user shared a video of Nigerian clergyman Chris Oyakhilome, making statements about the election’s outcome. In the four-minute video, the religious leader described the major presidential candidates by name, mentioning that one of them has his name in the Holy Bible. 

However, DUBAWA conducted keyword searches related to the claim and found a Facebook post with a similar video shared on Feb. 20, 2023, a few days before the 2023 general elections. A YouTube channel also uploaded the video back in 2023, detailing what the clergyman said about the major candidates ahead of the 2023 Nigerian presidential election.

We further checked the social media handles of the church where Mr Oyakhilome presides, but found no recent post related to the footage. 

Read more here.

5. Ekiti residents scramble for food items thrown by politicians ahead of state election

Ahead of the Ekiti State gubernatorial election scheduled for June 20, 2026, a Facebook user shared a viral video of Ekiti residents scrambling for food items thrown at them by politicians. 

We ran a Google Reverse Image Search on the video, which linked the clip to a separate event that took place in Oyo State on June 9, 2026. Reputable news outlets reported that the image showed some Oyo residents expressing support for Sharafadeen Alli, an APC politician, after he gave them 1kg sachets of semovita during a political campaign.

Read more here.