Claim: A Facebook user shared a video that shows armed men in a desert-like setting, claimed they were bandits, and urged the police to trace them.
Verdict: False. Evidence links the footage to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan.
Full Text
As Nigeria continues to face real challenges, reports on banditry move quickly and often ahead of verified facts.
Old information sometimes resurfaces as breaking news, and unrelated footage gets linked to new locations.
Recently, a Facebook user, mc ese jomo, shared a video (archived here) showing armed men suggesting they were bandits. He called on the Nigerian police to track and apprehend the bandits in the video.
The 54-second video shows these men moving around as they speak an unknown language. On the right side of the split screen, a man is seen commenting on the footage. He said, “Oga police, I thought you said you have a tracker that detects where content creators are. These people on my screen are online, and they are bandits taking selfies, so please find them.”
As of April 21, 2026, when the post was last seen, it garnered 1,200 likes, 115 comments, 425 shares, and over 5000 views.
DUBAWA checked the comments to understand what other users thought about the claim.
@Liz Achonwu replied, “You can keep waiting for the police; nothing will happen. At most, they will come and tell us false stories.”
@Arikya S. Man said, “But sir, this is not Nigeria.”
@Anasko Anasko commented, “My friend, you are wasting your time. They will not track them because the bandits and the authorities are closely connected.”
The video lacked clear details about its origin, and users in the comments had mixed reactions, including suggestions that it may not be from Nigeria. These discrepancies prompted DUBAWA to verify it.
Verification
DUBAWA split the video into keyframes using the InVID tool and ran a search. We found a report that identified the armed men as members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The report we reviewed was published in Turkish by the news platform Tamaturk, which linked the video to the chaos happening around El Fasher in the Darfur region. The individuals in the video were armed RSF fighters celebrating after a successful operation.
Despite differences in their outfits, we compared them to the RSF’s typical attire. Although the claimant’s video was not very clear, there were noticeable similarities. The RSF does not rely on a single standard camouflage, and we identified a reference image that reflects this variation.
Image from Facebook post (left), alongside a reference image illustrating RSF camouflage variations (right).
Since voices could be heard in the background of the video and available evidence pointed to Sudan and the RSF, DUBAWA sought expert input to better understand the language spoken.
We reached out to Abdallah Hussein, a Sudanese national, for interpretation, but did not receive a response. We then consulted Musa Salihu, an Arabic lecturer at the Federal University of Kashere, who is familiar with regional variations in Arabic.
According to him, the language in the video is Arabic, consistent with what RSF members commonly speak. He noted that it reflects a localised dialect that blends standard Arabic with regional linguistic influences. While he could not fully understand every word, he observed that the speakers seemed in a celebratory mood.
DUBAWA also found no credible reports or evidence linking the footage to Nigeria or to bandits.
Conclusion
The video does not show bandits in Nigeria. Evidence links it to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan. Thus, the claim is false.