A Tiktok video showing some men in military uniform has surfaced online with a claim that the troops of the Nigerian army have been deployed to Sokoto to contain the military coup in the Niger Republic.
The viral footage gathered so much reaction following the recent coup in Niger Republic. As of August 3, 2023, the post has generated over 330,000 views with 748 retweets and over 2, 000 likes.
READ : GRV, other prominent Twitter accounts share misleading video about Niger coup
A Twitter user, @Sprinter99800 tweeted the video with a caption that reads: “The Nigerian Air Force is reportedly deployed to Sokoto near the Niger-Nigeria border.”
The same claim was retweeted by @KoikiMedia, a verified Twitter account. The Twitter user @KoikiMedia tweeted with a caption that reads:
“The Nigerian @HQNigerianArmy is reportedly deployed to Sokoto near the Niger-Nigeria border.”
THE CLAIM
Video shows troops of the Nigerian army deployed to Sokoto in order to contain Niger Coup.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by FactCheckHub show that the claim is MISLEADING.
Niger Republic is a landlocked nation with a population of about 27 million people. It shares border with northern Nigeria, particularly the frontline states such as Sokoto, Katsina and Borno.
On July 26, 2023, the military successfully toppled the government following the detainment of President Mohamed Bazoum and his family. The incident has since drawn global attention, including concerns from member nations of the Economic Community of the West African States (ECOWAS).
Meanwhile, a document had earlier emerged on social media on Tuesday, August 1, 2023, suggesting that Nigeria’s president was in the process of deploying the Nigerian Army to Sokoto for an aerial attack on Niger Republic. This reported action has raised concerns among certain Nigerians about its potential repercussions.
Fueling the speculation, the video resurfaced online, purporting to show Nigerian military personnel preparing for the operation.
However, checks by FactCheckHub reveal that the video has been online before the military coup in Niger Republic.
A keyword search on social media led us to an earlier version of the video uploaded on July 23, 2023 by a Tiktok account, Real OGT.
Further analysis of the account reveals the user always posts videos related to military actions and lifestyles. The exact was hash-tagged #militarylife without suggesting that the video is related to the event.
FactCheckHub sent a message to the handler of the account, and he confirmed that the video is unrelated to the incident.
“It’s an old video. It was posted some months ago and just went viral some days ago. It’s my course mate [that] video it [during] operation in Enugu. So, I asked for it,(sic)” the handler responded.
THE VERDICT
The claim that the video shows troops of the Nigerian army being mobilised to Sokoto ahead of the attack at Niger Republic is MISLEADING as findings by FactCheckHub show that the video has been online prior to the incident and not related to the recent Nigerian government’s planned intervention into the ongoing coup in Niger Republic.
Nurudeen Akewushola is a fact-checker with FactCheckHub. He has authored several fact checks which have contributed to the fight against information disorder. You can reach him via [email protected] and @NurudeenAkewus1 via Twitter.
