Old footage from Côte d’Ivoire represented as Trump’s intervention in Nigeria 

Claim: A Facebook user shared a video claiming it was filmed during the US airstrike in Sokoto State, Nigeria.

Verdict: False! The video has been online since April 2011. It was filmed in Côte d’Ivoire, not the recent US airstrike in Nigeria, as claimed.

Full Text 

In the aftermath of the Christmas celebration, Nigerians woke up to the news of the United States airstrike in Sokoto State, targeting members of Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and Boko Haram. 

Recall in November 2025, the United States president, Donald Trump, threatened to deploy militants to Northern Nigeria in a bid to address the continuous attacks on Christians by Boko Haram terrorists.

Amidst all this, on Friday, Dec. 26, 2025, a Facebook user, Dem Lucre, with over 35,000 followers, shared a video claiming to be a view from the US airstrike in Sokoto State.

The footage caption reads, “BREAKING: President Trump designated a deadly attack on ISIS in Nigeria as a Christmas gift in response to their attacks on Christians.”

When DUBAWA checked on Sunday, Dec. 28, the video had generated over 14,000 likes, 172 comments, 126 reposts, and 44 bookmarks.

Meanwhile, similar posts were also shared on X (here and here) and Facebook (here and here).

While reviewing the post’s comments, we noticed that most users believed the video praising Trump, with no contradicting remarks.

One user, Oscar Valencia, wrote, “What a beast man, God Bless America.”

Another comment by Jo Debrin reads, “Pay back time, Merry Christmas.” 

Due to the huge post engagement and the recent incident, DUBAWA decided to verify the video’s authenticity.

Verification 

DUBAWA took screenshots of the clip and ran a Google Reverse image search, which led us to similar videos shared on YouTube in 2011, as seen here and here.

One of the YouTube videos is a 50-second version shared by Agence France-Presse (AFP), an international news agency. The video caption, when translated, reads, “Ivory Coast: Gbagbo’s regime lives its last hours,” linking the video to an incident in Côte d’Ivoire in 2011.

Another YouTube version published by Al Jazeera on April 5, 2011, featured the claimant video between 1:00 and 1:10 minutes of the clip.

Based on this information, DUBAWA conducted a keyword search, which led us to a GlobalVoices publication reporting political unrest in Côte d’Ivoire. This unrest followed a violent struggle between the two main opposing leaders, Laurent Gbagbo and Alassane Ouattara, during the 2010 election in Côte d’Ivoire.

The report titled “Côte d’Ivoire Unrest 2011” was accompanied by a screenshot of the Facebook claimant video.

News .bg also reported a similar story linking it to unrest in Côte d’Ivoire during the 2010 heated election.

Conclusion 

The video shared of the US airstrike was filmed during a post-election crisis in Côte d’Ivoire in 2011. The claim is therefore false.