By Pascal Ibe
On Monday afternoon, a video of where many men seen sitting in a forest and surrounded by Nigerian soldiers went viral on social media.
According to social media users, ”The forest of kotangora in niger state was ransacked yesterday(Sunday).. see the numbers of bandits brought out from the forest”.
A verified news platform on X @X_Daily posted, ”Video: The forest of Kotangora in Niger state was raided yesterday by the Army and these are the band!ts brought out from the forest.”
https://twitter.com/X_Dailly/status/1767282770676515196?t=9XvYwRq7VzlnqHupEm_F2w&s=19
Whats the need of not firing them and claim they fought and out best them in a gun battle?
These people will be released on repentance ground and then walk freely back to their banditry businesses. Our military apparatus have been corrupted by our politicians, a phone call and…
— Edo-Wizard 👺 (@davidoghe) March 11, 2024
They will be brought into the national security agencies with an elaborate ceremony
— Wale Adeyemi (@thewaleadeyemi) March 11, 2024
There is trouble in the land.
When there is hardship, a new line of trade springs up while the people are seeking opportunities to survive. Such is the case of those being recruited by Bandits.
The idea of giving birth to children that one is unable to cater for must stop— Tunji 'LordIromini' Iromini (@Detunjiprimo) March 11, 2024
The post on @X_Daily gained over 39.7k views and 187 reposts as at Monday night.
Another X user, @AlexIgwe5 posted the same video with caption, ”The forest of kotangora in niger state was ransacked yesterday.. see the numbers of bandits brought out from the forest.
Reactions 👇
https://twitter.com/GloryIgwe12/status/1767199049487163569?t=Si-1buwmSahaYZuUnqIpAw&s=19
How come Nigeria military get this people? I can boldly stand and tell you that this people here are innocent people that may be going out for their business and this now happens to them.
— Lazarus Sunday (@lazarus_su99549) March 11, 2024
The video on Monday, also went viral on different WhatsApp groups including IKORO NDIGBO ASSEMBLY, a social interaction group on WhatsApp, with over 400 members.
UNENDING INSECURITY IN NORTHERN NIGERIA
According to BBC, Nigeria’s spate of abductions worsened last Saturday as more than a dozen students and four women were kidnapped from a school in Gada, Sokoto.
Local MP Bashir Usman Gorau told the BBC that 15 students were among those kidnapped early in the morning.
Meanwhile, the army is still searching for hundreds of schoolchildren taken in the western town of Kuriga on Thursday.
In an update, the state governor Uba Sani told the BBC that at least 28 of these children had escaped.
Thursday’s kidnapping – which saw 280 students taken – was the biggest mass abduction from a school since 2021.
Gangs of armed men on motorbikes took primary and secondary school children between the ages of eight and 15, school authorities and parents said.
Nigerian troops are working with police and local search teams to comb forests within the state of Kaduna, where Kuriga is located, as well as neighbouring states.
Almost every family in the town is thought to have a child among those kidnapped.
VERIFYING THE VIDEO
When CrimeFacts news first traced this video, it indicated that an X user, @akere_s posted the video about four months ago and captioned it, ”The Forest of Kotangora in Niger state was ransacked yesterday.. see the number of Bandits the Nigerian Army brought out from the forest. Nigeria is in trouble.
They should get an Air Force jet to do a needful thing to those animals now some of them will be released and go back to do the same thing let them go and meet Baba God. They are wicked people them and IPOB they should not treat them like human beings at all.
@officialABAT @KashimSM @femigbaja @SGFAkume @PBATMediaCentre”
The video posted by @akerele_s at exactly 7:34pn on 20 October 2023, attracted 277k views.
The Forest of Kotangora in Niger state was ransacked yesterday.. see the number of Bandits the Nigerian Army brought out from the forest. Nigeria is in trouble.
They should get an Air Force jet to do a needful thing to those animals now some of them will be released and go back… pic.twitter.com/zsYvXK9GP8— Wale S Akerele (@akerele_s) October 20, 2023
Further checks on Facebook showed that the video was shared by The Beast Media on August 30, 2023.
Also this video was posted on Nairaland on August 26, 2023.
VERDICT: The claim by social media users that the Nigeria Army ransacked Kotangora forest on Sunday and busted many bandits, is MISLEADING.
This is an old video which first surfaced online in August 2023.
