Northern Nigeria has endured years of insecurity as jihadist groups and armed criminals terrorise communities, forcing thousands to flee their homes. A recent social media post claims to show a video of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) in a north-central Nigerian state with seized military assets. But the claim is false; the video, taken in 2024, shows military equipment captured in Burkina Faso by a group affiliated with al-Qaida in West Africa.<\/p>\n
\u201cISWAP has now entered Kogi State, which shares a border with Anambra,\u201d reads a part of an X post<\/a> published with a video on October 22, 2025.<\/p>\n Screenshot of the false post, taken on October 29, 2025<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Kogi and Anambra are Nigerian states \u2014 the former lies in the north-central region, while the latter is located in the southeastern part of the country.<\/p>\n The video shows a long row of military vehicles with mounted machine guns and men wearing face coverings.<\/p>\n ISWAP, one of the deadliest extremist<\/a> groups in West Africa, operates<\/a> mainly in northeastern Nigeria, Chad, Niger, and Cameroon, targeting both civilians and security forces (archived here<\/a> and here<\/a>).<\/p>\n The post, which has been shared more than 900 times, was published by an account called \u201cCitizen Observer\u201d with over 11,000 followers.<\/p>\n The account uses the image of the Nigerian secessionist leader Nnamdi Kanu in the bio, together with the descriptors \u201cjournalist, Biafra advocate, socialist\u201d and \u201cIgbo\u201d.<\/p>\n Kanu, who leads the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), was re-arrested in 2021 after jumping bail in 2017 for championing a separatist cause<\/a> aimed at carving out Nigeria\u2019s southeast, a region predominantly home to the Igbo ethnic group, into an independent state called Biafra. His supporters continue to identify themselves as Biafrans (archived here<\/a>).<\/p>\n A review of the account\u2019s feed shows that it mostly publishes content about IPOB, Kanu, and Biafra.<\/p>\n The post further suggests that Nigeria\u2019s priorities are misplaced, implying that while authorities remain focused on detaining Kanu and suppressing IPOB activities, militant groups like ISWAP and Boko Haram continue to infiltrate and attack parts of the country with little resistance.<\/p>\n But while Nigeria grapples<\/a> with a complex security crisis, the video does not show ISWAP fighters in Nigeria (archived here<\/a>).<\/p>\n Using Google Lens reverse image search<\/a> on keyframes from the video, AFP Fact Check found a post<\/a> on X published by a conflict-monitoring account on August 8, 2025, with a screenshot of military vehicles identical to those in the claim video (archived here<\/a>).<\/p>\n The post, captioned \u201c#BurkinaFaso This footage circulating is from an ambush in Aug 14, 2024, between Fada N\u2019Gourma and Boungou,\u201d was a direct reply to another account that wrongly claimed the scene occurred in August 2025.<\/p>\n A further search led to a post<\/a> from August 14, 2024, claiming the video (and others it published) showed the aftermath of an attack on a Burkina Faso Armed Forces convoy that reportedly left more than 140 soldiers dead (archived here<\/a>).<\/p>\n Jama\u2019a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin, academically referred to by its acronym JNIM, reportedly took responsibility for the attack. JNIM is an al-Qaeda\u2013affiliated militant group operating across the Sahel region.<\/p>\nOld video<\/h2>\n