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Claim: A Facebook user claimed that the United States president, Donald Trump, announced that American special forces “landed in Nigeria last night” without the knowledge of the Nigerian government.
Verdict: False. No credible evidence supports the claim that U.S. special forces landed in Nigeria, and the circulating link is tied to a phishing scam.
Full Text
Amidst the Christian Genocide conversation in Nigeria, the United States (US) President Donald Trump suggested that the US “may deploy airstrikes” or even send “ground troops.”
His comments, widely reported in the United States and international media, have fuelled intense debates about possible American intervention in Nigeria’s internal security issues.
Since these developments, multiple false claims, fabricated quotes, and misleading videos have flooded social media.
One such post came from a Facebook user, Aso Villa News, who claimed that Trump announced that American special forces “landed in Nigeria last night” without the knowledge of the Nigerian government.
The viral post, framed as breaking news, alleged that Trump said, “The U.S. Military is already on Nigerian soil, and your government doesn’t even know it.”
The post quoted Trump as saying American special forces “landed in Nigeria last night from the air, quiet, clean, and without a trace,” while mocking the Nigerian government for allegedly being unaware of the operation.
The post, made on Nov. 14, 2025, included a link claiming to contain full details of the story and was accompanied by pictures of aircraft, as well as images of Trump and Nigerian President Bola Tinubu.
As of Nov. 18, 2025, the post had garnered 1,400 likes, 512 comments, and 249 shares.
There were different reactions to the post. Some users, like Festus Nnabuike, welcomed it, commenting, “A very welcome development, please don’t keep on reminding us, we already know that our borders are very porous.”
Other users like Nonso Joshua questioned the claim. “Are you sure of this information?” he wrote.
Meanwhile, some users, like Okechukwu Kingsley, debunked the claim, commenting, “First time Aso Villa News would publish fake news?”
The video’s virality and the sensitive nature of this claim prompted DUBAWA to fact-check the post.
Verification
We conducted a keyword search on the claim but found no credible media reports, transcripts, press briefings, or interviews that contain this alleged statement. We also searched for statements from Trump regarding American forces secretly landing in Nigeria, but found nothing.
We then checked the websites of the Nigerian Ministry of Defence and the US Department of Defence, but found no announcement or statement regarding a military landing in Nigeria.
We ran a reverse image search of the fighter jet photos, but we were unable to identify their source. However, DUBAWA observed that the attached images of the aircraft had Grok watermarked in their lower right corner.
Grok is a generative artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot with real-time access to information on X.
When we analysed both images on Reversely.ai, the first image scored a 96.75% probability of being AI-generated or a deepfake. The second image scored 51.43% probability, indicating a high likelihood that AI generated it.
A screenshot of the first image after it was subjected to Reversely AI.
A screenshot of the second image after it was subjected to Reversely AI.
A pattern with an endgame
Further findings by DUBAWA revealed a pattern of Facebook users and pages sharing the exact claim under the impersonated identities of prominent media organisations or popular accounts.
For instance, the page”Aso Villa News” bears no connection to the Presidency or the president. The official Facebook page is the Aso Villa.
Another page that generated high reactions with the claim was Punch News. Punch News is impersonating the original Facebook page of Punch.
A Facebook page named Arise News also shared the claim and link, but we did not find it on the original AriseTV Facebook page.
DUBAWA’s manual analysis of the attached website link revealed that the impersonated Facebook pages used the claim to capture the attention of unsuspecting users, ultimately directing them to the crypto trading website Exness.
This implies that users are redirected to the Exness website when they click the link attached to the claim. It is a common trait of phishing scams. Using such links can subsequently lead to requests for personal and confidential information, such as bank account details.
Opening such links can also compromise other security features of victims and affect their digital security.
Conclusion
The post is false. No credible authority has reported that U.S. special forces have arrived in Nigeria. The link attached to the claim is a phishing link.
