Video linked to Oyo kidnapping, BBC journalist, misleading

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Lois Ugbede

Claim: An Instagram page @officialashowna shared a video of two men, linking it to follow-up events from the recent Oyo state abduction covered by a BBC journalist. 

Verdict: Misleading. The video is unrelated to the Oyo kidnapping, and the journalist credited with the video has also distanced himself from it. 

Full Text 

On Thursday, June 4, 2026, an Instagram page (@officialashowna) shared a video of two men on the floor

The video (archived here) was reportedly shot by British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) journalist Adesola Abisoye (@oloyenaija) and his team, who visited the affected community in Oyo to assess the situation and speak with eyewitnesses. 

Part of the Instagram caption reads, “GUNMEN ABDUCT STUDENTS, TEACHERS, AND PRINCIPAL IN OYO STATE SCHOOL ATTACK. Armed gunmen reportedly attacked schools in Orire Local Government Area of Oyo State, abducting students, teachers, and the school principal. Our team visited the affected community to assess the situation and speak with eyewitnesses following the incident.”

The video in the last five hours had gained 78 likes and three comments. 

In the comment section, the journalist Adesola Abisoye (@oloyenaija), credited for the video, distanced himself from it. 

Adesola, a broadcast Journalist with @bbcnewspidgin wrote, “Hello, kindly untag and unmention my handle from your video. That is not my voice, and I did not edit that.”

Although the video had low engagement, the fact that it was credited to a journalist who distanced himself from it prompted us to investigate its source.

Verification 

To understand the context of the video, we tasked our Hausa team with watching, listening to, and transcribing the conversation. Their transcription revealed that both men were pleading for help to be released. 

One of the men noted that they are both sick and need help getting out as soon as possible, as they could not endure the suffering they are being put through by the bandits anymore. 

“If you have given up on us and want us to die, please just tell us the truth so we can stop hoping and say our final goodbye. You can see the kind of suffering we are going through here. We are begging you to help gather support and get us out of this place. Please help us, for God’s sake,” the first man said. 

The second man, identified only as Yahaya by the first man, said, “You can see the condition we are in. You know I am not well, just like the chairperson. Yet we are still trapped here in the bush with these people. Please, for God’s sake, do something to get us out. Help us end this captivity so we can return to our families. Please mobilise people to raise the ransom they are asking for. Do not leave us here. We need help now.”

Seeing that the conversation had nothing to do with the Oyo state kidnapping, we conducted a reverse image search on Keyframes from the video. The result led us to a YouTube video published on June 4, 2026, by Igbo Daily. 

The caption of the video reads, “The ex-APC Chairperson of Koko/Besse LGA in Kebbi State and his companion degraded by bandits.”

This version of the video had a narrator’s voice over the video explaining that the man is said to be the former All Progressives Congress (APC) chairperson of Kokobese Local Government in Kebbi State. The narrator said he was captured by bandits alongside his associates, and they are being kept in Benin Gwari forest, where the bandits who abducted them were humiliating them.

We found another version of the video by Auwal Haruna Dashe with the original audio. The caption of the video, written in Hausa, reads, “INNALILLAHI WA’INNA ILAIHIRRAJIUN. Ubangiji Allah Ka Kawo Mana Karshen Wannan Miyagun Mutanen a Duk INDA Suke Da Masu Ɗaukan Nauyin Su.”

We translated this caption using Google Translate. The translation reads, “INNALILLAHI WA’INNA ILAIHIRAJIUN. O Allah, bring us the end of these evil people wherever they are and those who bear their burdens.”

To verify this translation, we had a member of our Hausa team review Google’s translation. The team translated the caption slightly differently but conveyed the same message. 

“O Allah, bring us the end of these evil people wherever they are and those who are supporting them,” DUBAWA’s Hausa team transcription reads. 

We also conducted a keyword search for “Ex-APC Chairperson of Koko/Besse LGA in Kebbi State” and found a news report by Sahara Reporters and an X post by Bakatsine (@DanKatsina50).

Although none of these posts stated the source of the video, Sahara Reporters credited a Facebook post by D English Ahaji, who said this is the former APC Chairperson of Koko/Besse LGA in Kebbi State and his associate being humiliated by bandits in the Birnin Gwari forest.

We also contacted the journalist Adesola, who noted he had no idea of the video in question. 

He added that he has requested that the page take down the video or remove his name from it, but nothing has been done so far. 

“I had no idea of the video the so-called influencer attached my name to. I have messaged him to pull it down or edit my name out of his caption, but nothing has been done. Even if it was a mistake, the person who posted it should know by now, but kept mum.”

He added that this development speaks to the wider problem of influencers trying to aggravate security situations with fake and sensational content.

He also revealed that he had reported the video on Instagram, but it is still available for public consumption.

“Sadly, when I tried reporting the video on the platform, Instagram stopped showing it to me, but others can still see it.”

Conclusion

The video linked to the recent Oyo kidnapping was not shot by BBC journalist Adesola. Our findings so far show it is a video of Kebbi State APC chieftains in bandit custody pleading for help. The claim is therefore false.