Picture showing gunmen attack on Zamfara chief of staff, not recent

Picture showing gunmen attack on Zamfara chief of staff, not recent
Image of the Zamfara State Chief of Staff alongside the vehicle reportedly attacked during the convoy incident. Source: Pulse Nigeria
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Claim: A Facebook user, Abdullahi Musa, recently made a post claiming that bandits attacked the convoy of the Zamfara State Chief of Staff along the Funtua–Gusau road.

Picture showing gunmen attack on Zamfara chief of staff, not recent

Verdict: Misleading. The incident happened in April 2026, about five months before the post resurfaced.

Full Text

On Sept. 6, 2026, a Facebook user identified as Abubakar Musa posted (archived here) in a Facebook group named TVC NEWS, claiming that bandits had attacked the convoy of the Zamfara State Chief of Staff along the Funtua–Gusau road.

The post presents the incident as recent, suggesting it occurred in September 2026.

As of Sept. 10, 2026, the post garnered 24 likes, 12 comments, and 3 shares, with most commenters believing it was a recent attack.

Obiallor Peace commented, “The bandits better confront government officials and leave poor people alone.”

Usman Honest, “This one is a family dispute; they were going to settle their matter at home. Nobody should say anything about it.”

Adebayo Philip, “This is war… God the Almighty will conquer the beast and disgrace their sponsors in Nigeria and Africa as a whole”.

The claim was also shared here and here. This comes amid recent bandit attacks on the Funtua community. DUBAWA investigated the claim to establish when the reported attack actually occurred.

Verification

DUBAWA conducted a reverse image search on the photograph attached to the claim and found that the same images had appeared in several online posts published here, here, here and here as far back as April 2026. 

Similarly, DUBAWA found that the reported attack actually occurred on Thursday, April 2, 2026, as reported by The Cable along the Funtua–Gusau highway near Kucheri village in Tsafe Local Government Area of Zamfara State.

The Cable reported on April 3 that gunmen attacked the convoy of Mouktar Lugga, the Chief of Staff to the Zamfara State Governor, while he was returning to Gusau from an official engagement. According to the report, a bullet pierced the vehicle’s windscreen, but Lugga, his driver and two other occupants escaped unharmed.

Channels Television also reported the incident on April 3, stating that the attack occurred the previous day near Kucheri village. It quoted Lugga confirming that gunmen emerged from the bush and opened fire on his vehicle, but that everyone in the vehicle was safe. Zagazola Makama also reported the incident. 

These reports show that the incident shared by the Facebook user occurred in April 2026, not in September.

Conclusion

The claim is misleading. The convoy of Zamfara State Governor’s Chief of Staff, Mouktar Lugga, was attacked along the Funtua–Gusau highway. Still, the incident occurred in April 2026, not in September as the Facebook post suggests. Reposting the old incident without its original date makes it seem like a recent attack.

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