Photos claiming vigilantes’ success in Kwara is of Nigerian Army’s operation in Borno 

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Justina Asishana

Claim: A Facebook Page, Capacity Media Trust, shared some pictures of alleged dead bandits with the claim that vigilantes in Kwara State killed them.

Verdict: Misleading. The pictures of the dead bandits were posted on X and Instagram by the Nigerian Army on July 1, 2025, as the aftermath of their gun duel with suspected Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists at Manawaji, Borno state. 

Full Text

Insecurity in Nigeria has been on the rise in recent months, with north central communities, especially in Niger, Benue, Plateau and Kwara facing the brunt.

In April 2025, 51 people were killed in Zikke, Kwall District of Bassa Local Government Area (LGA) of Plateau state, while another 52 people were killed in Bokkos LGA by marauding herdsmen.

In April 2025, 80 people were killed in Benue state in coordinated early morning attacks by suspected herdsmen in Ukum, Logo, and Katsina-Ala LGAs. In June, about 200 people were killed in Yelewata and Daudu communities in Guma LGAs of the state.

Amidst these unending attacks, a Facebook page (Capacity Media Trust (Radio) posted on July 4, 2025, that the vigilantes in Edu Patigi, Kwara State, had defeated the terrorists who invaded their community. 

The post read, “Vigilantes in EDU PATIGI achieve major success against terrorists. In a remarkable operation, the local vigilantes in EDU PATIGI have made a significant breakthrough against terrorist elements. Successfully recovered several weapons and motorcycles. 

“This achievement underscores the courage and resilience of our community vigilantes in combating terrorism, especially the leading female goddess. We commend our vigilantes for their tireless efforts in safeguarding our communities. May God continue to protect and empower our vigilantes as they strive to keep our communities safe and secure. May peace and stability reign in our land, Amin. Barrister MZ.”

As of July 7, 2025, the post attributed to one Barrister MZ had 508 shares and 525 comments on Capacity Media Trust.

The information was also posted by other Facebook users in some groups here, here and here. 

Various comments on the post commended the vigilantes’ fearless ability and called on other states to emulate what the Edu Patigi vigilantes have done. 

Another Facebook User, Ndanusa Abdullahi, wrote, “The state should employ the services of these kinds of people in order to bring down those bandits and evil people tormenting the nation.”

Ahmed Mohammed, who also commented on the post, applauded the vigilantes’ move and asked the government to use them more. He wrote, “If vigilantes can end banditry in our nation, then what are the uses of other forces for which they have been paid? If they can’t end it, they should resign or reshuffle the forces in the country.” 

“I said kudos to our local forces, untrained forces for that matter. Please, enough is enough for all this, our security personnel. Imagine it was those days, when our armed forces were being used for peacekeeping in Liberia and Rwanda. Now it is our turn. What is happening to our security system? Bribery and corruption are everywhere, from top to bottom. What a bunch of quack security Nigeria is producing. Where are we going?” 

Jubril Mohammad, one of the commenters, questioned the post’s authenticity, “My Comrade Lanre, this news was fake. I am from Lade district under the Patigi local government area of Kwara State. Armed bandits killed more than 28 local vigilantes three days ago. Two of my in-laws were among them. We buried them in the scene today. They discovered their corpses today, Saturday, 5, 2025.”

During conflicts and crises, there is a tendency to misuse and misrepresent pictures and numbers. Given the reports of worsening insecurity across states in the north central region and the post’s virality, DUBAWA decided to verify the claim.

Verification

We conducted a reverse image search using Google Lens on each image. We found that four of the pictures were first posted by the Nigerian Army on July 1, 2025, as evidence of the joint fighting patrol with elements of the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) and Hybrid Forces (HF) against Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists at Manawaji in Gamboru Ngala LGA of Borno State.

The military revealed that its troops had successfully attacked and eliminated eight terrorists during the firefight and captured several weapons and ammunition from the dead and fleeing terrorists.

We found that the other two pictures of guns and motorcycles were posted on July 1, 2025, by an X User, Charlie Werb (@WerbCharlie), on a Facebook page called African Report Files.

We conducted keyword searches but found no news reports about the victory of the vigilantes against bandits in Edu Patigi in Kwara state. 

However, there were news reports on the confrontation between armed bandits and security forces in Gada Woro, along Patigi Road near Gbugbu town in the Edu LGA in Kwara state that left five vigilantes and a policeman dead, with several security operatives injured. 

There was another news report on bandits’ attack on Lata Nna Kokodo and Gada communities in Patigi LGA in Kwara state on July 1, 2025, forcing 90 per cent of the residents out of their homes and farms.

DUBAWA reached out to Capacity Media Trust to find out the source of the information, and was told that it came from a ‘Barrister MZ’ whose full name is unknown 

DUBAWA then messaged Barrister MZ via the WhatsApp contact provided by Capacity Media Trust (Radio) asking for the source of the pictures. After some days, he responded that the information and pictures he had put out were what had happened.

“Sorry, I was on transit yesterday. It’s a confirmed story, I’m from the state,” he responded.

Conclusion

The images used in the viral Facebook posts of Edu Patigi vigilantes defeating bandits and recovering weapons in Kwara state were first shared by the Nigerian Army to report an operation against terrorists in Borno State, not Kwara. There is also no verified evidence that vigilantes in Edu Patigi carried out such an operation, and news reports from the area point to recent attacks by bandits, not victories.