Claim: A viral WhatsApp video claims to show the 25 female students abducted from a school in Maga, Kebbi State, being slaughtered.
Verdict: False. DUBAWA found that the video is unrelated to Nigeria and likely originates from Central Africa, not Kebbi State.
Full Text
Amid growing insecurity in Nigeria, a disturbing video has been circulating on WhatsApp, claiming that 25 female students abducted from a school in Maga, Kebbi State, were “slaughtered like fowls.”
The one-minute-12-second video contains extremely graphic scenes showing the execution of several individuals.
Part of the caption embedded in the footage reads, “The 25 female students abducted from a school in Maga, Kebbi state on Sunday are being slaughtered like fowls… Honestly, this is getting out of hand…”
The claim has the potential to trigger fear and outrage among social media users, especially given the history of school abductions in Nigeria.
Given the sensitive nature of the claim and its potential to incite panic, DUBAWA investigated its authenticity.
Verification
DUBAWA began by analysing the video’s audio and visual elements.
The language spoken in the video is clearly not English or any widely spoken Nigerian language. To verify this, DUBAWA used Google Gemini to transcribe and translate the audio.
The analysis showed that the speakers used a combination of Arabic and Swahili. The Arabic portion includes an Islamic sermon introduction and a recitation of Quranic verse, specifically Surah Muhammad, Verse 4.
The Swahili portion features a speaker addressing an audience and framing the violence as a religious obligation.
Further visual analysis revealed additional inconsistency. The fighters wore camouflage uniforms not typical of Nigerian security agencies, ISWAP, or bandit groups.
The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) has been widely reported for using Swahili in propaganda videos and for carrying out brutal attacks, including beheadings, in regions such as Beni and Ituri.
Security analysis by the Combating Terrorism Center at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York, has long linked such patterns to ADF. ADF is a group known for operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and parts of East Africa.
No evidence of killings in Kebbi
To verify the claim about the abducted students, DUBAWA conducted keyword searches on Google on the alleged incident in Maga, Kebbi State.
While reports confirmed that students were abducted on Nov. 17, 2025, at Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School (GGCSS), located in Maga, Kebbi State, available reports show that the students were rescued and handed over to the government on Nov. 25, 2025, contradicting the claim made in the viral video.
DUBAWA also contacted the Kebbi State Police Command through its Public Relations Officer, Bashir Usman, who confirmed that there has been no mass killing of abducted students in Kebbi State matching the description in the video.
“25 female students abducted in Maga have been released and reunited with their families since last year, 2025,” he said.
Conclusion
The viral WhatsApp video claiming that 25 abducted female students in Maga, Kebbi State, were slaughtered is false.
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