The United States Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth. Photo Source: The Guardian
|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Claim: An X user via video claimed that the United States Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, is headed to Nigeria to meet Nigerian leaders.
Verdict: False. Careful inquiries into the claimant’s post reveal that the video was recorded while Hegseth was leaving a Naval air station in Fort Worth, en route to meet Elon Musk at SpaceX, and not with Nigerian leaders as captioned.
Full Text
To support the Nigerian military in addressing the country’s security challenges, the United States forces delivered critical military supplies to the Nigerian partners in Abuja on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, as part of its shared security partnership.
Back in December 2025, the United States launched an airstrike attack on bandits’ hideout in Sokoto State, in a bid to fight insecurity bedevilling the nation.
Following increased security support from the US, an X user, @NuhuSada0, on Monday, Jan. 12, 2026, shared a video of US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth approaching some police personnel who had joined him at the airport and taking a picture with them.
The claimant, a Social Democratic Party (SDP) aspirant for Zaria Kewaye Constituency in the Kaduna State House of Assembly, further stated that Hegseth was heading to meet Nigerian leaders.
The X video caption reads, “Alert: U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth heads to Nigeria to meet Nigerian leaders, big moves ahead”.
We found a similar claim on Facebook here.
As of Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, the video has generated over 438,000 views, 4,100 likes, 680 reposts, 95 quotes, and 508 bookmarks.
In the comment section, some X users perceived the video to be true, while a few others expressed doubt about it.
“Nice. We need all the help we can get in defeating insecurity,” @Okwudilidave wrote.
Another user, @OddCruise, stated, “I don’t want to hear cries after the next big air strike.”
“Are you sure this news is correct?” @NovaJuice01 questioned.
To prevent the public from consuming disinformation, DUBAWA decided to verify the claim.
Verification
DUBAWA took screenshots from the clip and conducted a Google Reverse Image Search. This search led us to similar videos shared on X on Jan. 12, 2026, but with captions different from the claimant post.
Frontline TPUSA, a non-profit organisation, shared the footage, noting it shows the US Secretary of War, Hegseth’s departure from Fort Worth. The post also narrated that Hegseth took a photo with the local police and commended them for their diligence.
“Before leaving Fort Worth, @SecWar took a photo and thanked local police for all their hard work. Next stop: SpaceX” the post caption read.
Another X post made by DailySignal’s executive editor, Rob Bluey, further informs that the video was taken at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base, Fort Worth.
Meanwhile, another journalist with @RightLineNews confirmed Pete Hegseth was headed to SpaceX from Fort Worth.
We further conducted an extensive keyword search on Pete Hegseth’s actual location on Jan. 12, 2026. We came across a publication by the US Department of War, which communicated that the US Secretary of War met with Elon Musk at SpaceX on the same day the video was uploaded.
Other media outlets, including Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-Span), New York Post, and Fox News, all reported a similar development.
Furthermore, DUBAWA checked if there were reports of the US Defence Secretary visiting Nigeria, but found none to substantiate the claim.
Conclusion
DUBAWA’s inquiries about the claim reveal that the video captures the Secretary of War appreciating local police and law enforcement for their hard work, at Fort Worth, before heading to meet Elon at SpaceX.
