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Claim: A blogger shared a clip showing how bandits abducted Nigerian soldiers and took them away on bikes.
Verdict: Misleading! While the footage is real, it is unrelated to Nigerian troops. The video shows how “Al-Qaeda-backed Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM)” fighters abducted Malian soldiers after killing some of them on June 1, 2025, in Boulkessi military camp, close to the Burkina Faso border.
Full Text
With the daily increase of armed attacks, kidnappings, and killings, banditry is a sour song that seems far from ending in Nigeria.
Recently, a blog, SorosokeGosspi, shared a one-minute video on Facebook showing how a group of armed bandits abducted some men in military uniform. The footage’s description claimed the men were men of the Nigerian army being carted away on motorcycles after their camp was raided.
Although the post received over 2,000 likes, several other users questioned the authenticity of the claim. Some say the video is from Ghana, while others claim it is from Mali, not Nigeria.
The claim comes when Nigerians are losing trust in government institutions. Considering the perception this claim could create in the minds of citizens, if true, DUBAWA decided to investigate it.
Verification
Studying the video, we observed a familiar military badge on the arm of one of the abducted soldiers. The badge featured green, gold, and red colours arranged in a sequence that depicted the Malian flag. We compared this with an actual Malian military arm badge, which was a replica.
We then broke the clip into keyframes and conducted a reverse image search. This search led to an X post by Brant Philip, a terrorism researcher focusing on the Middle East and West Africa.
He posted seven clips on June 8, 2025, while reporting an incident on June 1, 2025. Brant’s videos depicted how a group called “Al-Qaeda-backed Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM)” killed over 100 Malian soldiers in the Boulkessi military camp close to the Burkina Faso border. Among the seven videos was the one used in the claim under verification.
The AFP also reported the development.
Conclusion
Contrary to the claimant, findings show that the military men abducted in the viral footage were Malian soldiers, not Nigerian troops as claimed.
