Claim: Several Facebook posts claim that the Nigerian Army recently arrested nearly 488 Boko Haram members in Abia State.
Verdict: False. The video used as evidence is from a 2014 incident and is unrelated to current insecurity or Boko Haram activity in Abia State.
Full Text
In recent years, insecurity that once appeared concentrated in Northern Nigeria has spread to other parts of the country. Banditry and terrorist activity now affect multiple regions. As these challenges continue, social media has also become a space where false or misleading claims about attacks and security incidents circulate. Often, these claims are far from reality, as DUBAWA has debunked.
Recently, a Facebook user claimed (archived here) that the Nigerian Army arrested 488 Boko Haram members in 35 buses
As of April 28, 2026, when the post was seen, it had 20 likes, 8 comments and 5 shares.
DUBAWA also reviewed the comments on the post to see what Facebook users thought.
@Etim Akpan wrote, “May God help us. So, Islam really plans to turn this country into what they want it to be, a Muslim country? Is that their plan?”
@Murphy Osass stated, “Okay, they arrested them, eh. What next? Will they be integrated into the Nigerian Armed Forces as usual?”
@Capa Odu asked, “To the security men, please, what is their mission? Who sent them?”
DUBAWA found the same narrative shared here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Given the narrative’s virality and public significance regarding national security, DUBAWA decided to verify it to ensure factual accuracy and prevent unnecessary alarm.
Verification
DUBAWA observed that the video shared with the post was a Channels TV report, prompting us to confirm the original date and context.
We used the InVID tool to extract keyframes from the video. We conducted a reverse image search on these frames and located the original version. The video was published on Channels TV YouTube channel 11 years ago, on June 15, 2014.
We also found a detailed written report which showed that the Nigerian troops intercepted buses with hundreds of young people on the Enugu-Port Harcourt expressway. The suspects, primarily aged 16 to 24, explained that they travel from Northern Nigeria to find work. Vanguard reported this incident at the time. Crucially, authorities found no conclusive evidence to link the youth to Boko Haram.
DUBAWA also contacted the Police Public Relations Officer (PRO) of Abia State, Maureen Chinaka, who previously debunked a similar claim. Maureen confirmed the information is untrue and traced the claim back to an old incident.
“The Incident happened years and years before I even came into office, and this is not the first time we have heard such information spread. It is not true,” she said.
She urged the public to exercise caution when encountering information, noting that many nonexistent or outdated stories can still be used to mislead people.
Conclusion
The claim that the Nigerian Army recently arrested nearly 488 Boko Haram members in Abia State is false. The video used as evidence is from a 2014 incident and has no connection to Abia State or current events.