Round-Up: Oyo kidnap claims, AI videos, top claims fact-checked last week

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Sunday Awosoro

The second week of June 2026 was dominated by misinformation tied to the Oyo State school kidnapping, AI-generated footage, and viral claims about ethnicity and political corruption.

Here are some of the claims DUBAWA verified this week.

1. Rescue operation video from Oyo? 

Following the abduction of students and teachers in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State in May 2026, misinformation linked to the incident continued to circulate online. On June 4, 2026, a Facebook user posted a video, claiming it showed ongoing rescue operations for the hostages.

DUBAWA traced the video to a May 7, 2026, upload by the Vigilante Group of Nigeria in the Federal Capital Territory. Contrary to the claim, the video showed the group carrying out their operation in Darka forest, Kuje Area Council.

Read the full fact-check here.

2. Students flee school in Kano after attack

An X user shared a video of secondary school students running in panic. The user claimed gunmen had stormed a government school in Kano State and abducted the principal. The post gathered 331,000 views, 2,700 retweets, and 3,700 likes as of June 5, 2026.

Results from our keyframe analysis linked the clip to recent school closures in Akure, Ondo State. We also conducted keyword searches, but no credible outlet reported any such incident in Kano.

Read more here.

3. US soldiers captured bandits in Sokoto

An X user shared a video on June 11, 2026, purportedly showing armed men in US military-style uniforms. They were holding three bandits in a bushy terrain. The user claimed the operation took place in Sokoto State.  

Due to several inconsistencies, we subjected the footage to AI detection tools and found it was AI-generated.

Read our findings here.

4. All Northern governors are Fulani 

An X user made a post, claiming that all Northern governors in Nigeria are Fulani. The post reignited debate over ethnicity and fair representation in the country’s political space.

However, DUBAWA found this to be misleading. Our search showed that governors like Babagana Zulum of Borno and Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa are not Fulani. They are Kanuri and Margi, respectively.  

Read the full details here.

5. Video of Tinubu and APC sharing World Bank loans

A Facebook video claiming to show President Bola Tinubu and All Progressives Congress (APC) members openly sharing money borrowed from the World Bank and China went viral on June 1, 2026. 

We conducted a reverse image search and traced the footage to a cash-disbursement event in Maiduguri. It was organised by lawmaker Hon. Abdulkadir Rahis, who, reports said, shared N26 million among 442 APC executives. President Tinubu was nowhere in the video, and we did not find any link to World Bank or Chinese loans.

Read the full fact check here.