A recirculating video across social media platforms has claimed that Jihadists linked to Al-Qaeda have arrived in Nigeria and taken over the Kainji Forest.

This video was first shared within the Nigerian X community on July 2 by Chinasa Nworu, an X user with 118,000 followers. He claimed that this video was published after an investigation by a journalist with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

Captioning the video, Nworu wrote: ‘Mass Arrival Of Fulani Terrorists Into Nigeria – BBC News Hausa. A BBC Investigative Journalist discovers the arrival of Jihadists linked to Al-Qaeda from other African countries through Benin Republic. They have taken over Kainji Forest.’

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*Mass Arrival Of Fulani Terrorists Into Nigeria – BBC News Hausa**A BBC Investigative Journalist discovers the arrival of Jihadists linked to Al-Qaeda from other African countries through Benin Republic. They have taken over Kainji Forest.*@real_IpobDOS @GoitaAssimi @MFA_China… pic.twitter.com/zXBf9pkOJc— Chinasa Nworu (@ChinasaNworu) July 2, 2024

At the time this video was shared, it had been seen by more than 11,000 X users and had garnered 455 likes and 848 reposts.

But Nworu didn’t stop at his X page, he also shared the video on his Facebook page and it got 261 likes and 17 comments.

The claim of Facebook.

One of the comments on the post read, “From the look on the video, it can be said that this guys are somewhere in the rain first of either in the middle belt or in the south.”

EQ found that besides Nworu, claims of this video have been circulated by this popular X user (and has been seen 80,000 times) and this YouTube channel with more than 1,300 subscribers.

Claims related to the video.

EQ also found that Zagazola, a counter-terrorism media outlet, had declared the claim to be false on Thursday.

“A video was recently circulated online alleged to be an investigation by BBC, with the claim that there was mass arrival of Fulani linked to Al-Qaeda, from other countries through Benin and have taken over Kainji Forest. They also attached a video to it,” Zagazola shared.

A video was recently circulated online alleged to be an investigation by BBC, with the claim that there was mass arrival of Fulani linked to Al-Qaeda, from other countries through Benin and have taken over Kainji Forest. They also attached a video to is. pic.twitter.com/z11zIMLsl9— Zagazola (@ZagazOlaMakama) September 12, 2024

CLAIM: The BBC published an investigation claiming that jihadists and Fulani terrorists had arrived in Nigeria and taken over Kainji Forest.

VERIFICATION: EQ ran multiple checks through the BBC website using keywords such as ‘Al-Qaeda’, ‘Jihadists’, ‘Kainji Forest’ but found no investigation linked to the claim.

EQ also ran checks on their X page and YouTube channel but found nothing related to this claim. BBC Hausa also has nothing on this.

Checks across the different credible media organisations in Nigeria also revealed that none of them had reports of Jihadists or Fulani terrorists linked to Al-Qaeda entering Nigeria and taking over the Kainji Forest.

EQ also found a statement published by the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) in June stating that the video was originally created on May 28, 2018. However, it did not state its origin.

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This disclaimer was published seven days after the federal government announced it was deploying 50 new fighter jets to Kainji, which has become a stronghold of terrorists. A report published by the Clingendael Institute, a Dutch security think tank, also confirmed it.

VERDICT: The BBC did not publish any investigation revealing that Al-Qaeda terrorist took over Kainji.

The video attached to the claim that terrorists linked to Al-Qaeda had entered Nigeria and taken over Kainji Forest is misleading.

Most importantly, the claim that terrorists linked to Al-Qaeda have taken over Kainji is misleading.

The post FACT-CHECK: Did Terrorists Linked to Al-Qaeda Take Over Kainji Forest? appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.