Nigerian soldiers. Source: Newsverge
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Claim: A Facebook user, Trend Watch HQ, posted a video showing members of the Nigerian Army attempting to rescue some Nigerians from a large pit.
Verdict: FALSE. DUBAWA’s analysis revealed that the video was created using Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Full Text
A Facebook page, Trend Watch HQ, shared a 15-second video (archived here) showing members of the Nigerian Army reassuring some people in a large pit that they would be rescued.
As of Feb. 23, 2026, the video has gained over 22,500 reactions, 523 comments, and 863 reshares.
Some comments praised the military officials’ heroic actions, while others expressed disbelief in the rescue mission, claiming the video is AI-generated.
Olaniyan Soji said, “God bless you all for saving our people. Kudos to you all.”
Mallam Shaibu said, “May almighty Allah continue to guide and protect our soldiers and may the blessings of God be with you all.”
On the other hand, Nyamukuvha Ngwaniwapo said, “It’s crazy that there are people here debating whether this is AI or real. This is worrying that y’all can’t tell the difference between AI and reality.”
Nikki Adewuyi said, “Facebook really need to start labelling AI videos from real ones.”
The differing opinions on the video’s authenticity prompted DUBAWA to fact-check the claim.
Verification
DUBAWA observed some elements in the video, suggesting AI likely generated it. The aerial view of people in the ditch, irrespective of the camera angle, seems unnatural. Also, their facial expressions seem monotonous and lack emotion.
To confirm our suspicions, we used TruthScan AI, an open-sourced tool for detecting AI-generated content, to analyse the video. The result yielded a high confidence rating that the video was AI-generated, with a 99% probability.
We also used Attestiv Deepfake Video for further analysis of the video. The result indicated that the video was largely generated by AI. The tool gave the video a low authenticity score, indicating that parts of it had a 56% technical accuracy rating.
Despite using keyword searches, DUBAWA found no credible media organisation or social media post showing where the Nigerian army rescued a large crowd from a ditch.
Conclusion
DUBAWA’s analyses confirmed that the video is AI-generated. Also, no credible media platform reported the incident or identified where it occurred. Therefore, the claim is false.
