Illustration of criminal gangs holding guns. Image source: Africa Centre for Strategic Studies.
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Claim: A Facebook user, @LocalNation, alleged that bandits abducted a pregnant woman who gave birth while in their custody and later demanded a double ransom for both the woman and her baby.
Verdict: Misleading. DUBAWA found that the image and video used to support the claim were AI-generated and taken out of context. In the past, there have been reported cases of abducted pregnant women giving birth in captivity in Nigeria. Still, there is no credible evidence to support the recent claim that bandits assisted in the delivery and later demanded an increased ransom because of the newborn.
Full Text
The line of attacks and abductions carried out by bandits in Nigeria did not stop in 2025. On Jan. 8, 2026, bandits attacked Kasuwan-Daji market in Niger State, killing over 30 people, burning homes, and whisking away several individuals. Amid these attacks, social media users have continued to share information about banditry in the country.
For instance, a Facebook user, @LocalNation, claimed that bandits abducted a pregnant woman who gave birth while in their custody and demanded more money from her family, as they now had both the mother and her child. (Archived here)
An unidentified man in the two-minute video narrated the incident: “This one will shock you all. Bandits kidnapped a woman who was 8 months pregnant. They took her to the bush, and she gave birth with the help of the bandits. Then they made a video and sent it to her family demanding more money for two since the woman gave birth to the second person, who is also a family member.”
The man spent the remaining minutes reiterating the scenario he claimed had recently happened and praised the bandits for helping the woman give birth, saying they were probably “good bandits.”
At the bottom-right corner of the video was a picture showing several men with guns standing around someone squatting and holding a baby. The gender identity of the person squatting could not be ascertained.
As of Jan. 8, 2026, the post had garnered approximately 50,000 likes, 1,100 comments, 2,200 shares, and 800,000 views.
DUBAWA reviewed the comments to see how users reacted to the claim.
@Raphael Djgold wrote, “Imagine a bandit acting like a doctor and attending to a patient in a laboratory.”
@Nweke Chidumga added, “Banditry is terrible, but the power of motherhood seemed to affect them.”
@Umma Gwanda replied, “I feel sorry for the baby, considering the kind of people he saw first in his life.”
@Stella Busayo commented, “So bandits now assist with childbirth? Anyway, congratulations to the mother. God will set you free.”
We also found the same claim shared here and here. (Also archived here, and here.)
DUBAWA decided to make further inquiries into the claim due to the large number of engagements the post had generated, as well as the sensitive nature of the claim.
Verification
DUBAWA started by using keywords from the claim to determine whether there was any precedent for the situation described in the post.
We found several cases in which pregnant women gave birth while in captivity. For instance, on Dec. 26, 2020, a 22-year-old woman abducted from Batsari, Katsina State, delivered a baby in the forest with assistance from fellow captives. Similar cases can be found here and here.
A more recent account published by WitnessNGR stated that in December 2025, a pregnant woman in Zamfara State gave birth on the way to the forest but was still taken into captivity along with her newborn. WitnessNGR cited a BBC report as its source, which DUBAWA traced to a publication by BBC Hausa.
Leadership News also documented the incident. However, DUBAWA noticed that none of the reports made mention of an increased ransom demand by the abductors.
DUBAWA examined the image embedded in the video using Google Lens, which led to several clear images of the same armed men captured from different angles. Many media outlets have used the image as a cover photo in other reports on banditry. See samples here, here, here, and here.
We traced the origin of the image to an in-depth report by an American journalist, James Barnett, who visited bandit-controlled areas to interview fighters and examine their structure and operations. The report, published by New Lines Magazine, captioned the image as “Bandits in Birnin Magaji, Zamfara State.”
DUBAWA observed that across all the images used in the 23-minute read report, none showed a scene similar to the one shared by the Facebook user, and there was no mention of a pregnant woman giving birth with the help of bandits.
We then decided to subject the image to Hive.ai, and it returned a probability score of 99%, indicating that the image is likely artificially generated.
An error level analysis using the InVID forensic tool showed inconsistencies, commonly referred to as patched areas, indicating that the image had been altered from its original form.
DUBAWA made efforts to reach the Zamfara State Police Public Relations Officer and called the phone numbers listed on the state government’s website to get further updates on the incident, but got no response.
Conclusion
DUBAWA’s findings show the claim is misleading. There is no evidence that bandits requested more ransom after a pregnant woman gave birth in captivity. The image used in the post is AI-generated and digitally altered.
