Claim: An X user posted a video claiming that Boko Haram has taken over several military barracks in Nigeria.
Verdict: False! Available evidence reveals the armed men in the footage are linked to Sudan and not Nigeria. Besides, no credible news outlet in the country reported the development.
Full Text
For years, states in northern Nigeria have become a hotbed of terrorist violence, with incessant attacks linked to criminal group Boko Haram. The attacks have claimed tons of lives and displaced thousands.
With this back story, an X user, @K3lulnBobo, shared a clip of armed men roaming an uninhabited area with armoured cars and weapons, and claimed they are Boko Haram terrorists who have captured a Nigerian military barracks.
Attached to the one-minute, 27-second footage is the caption, “Boko Haram taking over many Nigerian military barracks and rejoicing for their victory.”
As of Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025, the post has attracted over 1 million views, 4,050 likes, 2,360 reposts, 1,330 bookmarks, and 650 quotes.
A review of the post’s comments reveals a mix of belief and doubt among users who engaged with the post.
Believing its authenticity, @Fortis1o wrote, “The Nigerian military simply hands over these things to Boko Haram and the Nigerian government turns around and increases taxes on Nigerians.”
On the contrary, another user @Mautiin01 wrote, “This is not Nigeria but Sudan. You call yourself good news, but you are bent on spreading lies and misinformation.”
“This is not Nigeria,” @Nainna_j asserted.
Because of the claim’s sensitivity and the conflicting comments it generated, DUBAWA decided to verify it.
Verification
DUBAWA conducted a manual analysis of the video. We noticed that the truck conveying the terrorists has an Arabic inscription and Sudanese flags visible on it.
We further contacted Yakubu Mohammed, a conflict reporter with Premium Times. He noted that “jihadists mostly use the inscriptions, and they are likely the Rapid Support Forces [RSF] in that country.”
Using this information, we examined the uniforms of the armed men in the video and compared them with the RSF’s military uniforms. We found that the uniforms are similar.
Furthermore, we conducted a Google Reverse Image Search on the video’s keyframes, which led us to similar Facebook videos captioned in Arabic, as shown here. Although the Facebook account that shared the video clip did not add any context to the video, DUBAWA carefully checked through the previous posts that it had shared. We noticed that the account shares pieces of information linked to Sudan.
Finally, we checked through credible news agencies but found no report validating Boko Haram attacks on several military barracks in Nigeria.
Conclusion
The claim is false. DUBAWA’s investigation reveals that the clip shared by the claimant is linked to Sudan, not to Nigeria or any Nigerian military barracks.