By Pascal Ibe
Claim
Many social media users, especially on the X platform, have posted two different videos showing Nigerian soldiers lamenting over Inadequate weapons and alleged sabotage by the army authorities and claimed they were recent.
Verdict
These videos recycled as recent were MISLEADING. The first one, showing an unarmed solder insulting army authorities over alleged sabotage, occurred in 2020, While the second video of troops demanding better weapons was traced to 2014.
Full Text
From Borno State to Yobe to Adamawa, Boko Haram terrorists have resumed their attacks on military formations, farmers, and civilians after what may seem like they have been ousted since the Bola Tinubu-led administration took over power in 2023.
Obviously, despite repeated government assurances and years of military campaigns, the terror group appears emboldened once again, tightening its grip on swathes of the North-East.
The social and economic cost of this insurgency is staggering. Since Boko Haram’s first major attack in 2009, thousands of lives have been lost and millions of people displaced. Farmlands have been abandoned. Markets lie in ruins. Schools have been destroyed or shut down. Insecurity has not only robbed people of their lives and livelihoods but also of hope.
As the resurgence of these terrorists continues, social media users have published videos of soldiers lamenting over Inadequate weapons to end the insurgency. Also, another clip shows soldiers abusing the Nigerian authorities over alleged sabotage.
The X user, @Goziedragon∅∅7, shared this video of a soldier weeping, “Army don suffer us finish,” and claimed it was recent.
@Goziedragon∅∅7 captioned the video, “Tag to those Biafran youths who are dreaming of joining @HQNigerianArmy
Unless dye na your wish.
This video was also posted on Facebook as a recent incident. Check this claim here and here.
In the second video, social media users circulated the video of troops saying that they were going back to their houses over the non-provision of adequate weapons to fight the Boko Haram terrorists.
An X user, @ChuksEricE posted this video as a current incident on 18th April 2025 with a caption that reads, “Many soldier don d!e already, we have no option than to go house. When Nigeria Army is ready, they should provide weapøns for us to fight those terrørist”
—Nigeria soldiers lament at wår front.
This video was also published here and here recently.
Verification
This Fact Checker traced this first video of soldiers abusing the Nigerian authorities over alleged sabotage through Google Image Reverse Search and discovered that this video was from 2020.
A credible news outlet, Punch Online published the video via its YouTube channel with the caption, “Nigerians soldiers weep, curse after being ambushed by Boko Haram”
Further findings indicated that the video was recorded after troops were ambushed by suspected insurgents while on patrol in the northeastern state of Yobe in May 2020.
In a statement released earlier, the former Coordinator, Defence Media Operations, Major General. John Enenche disclosed that two soldiers “paid the supreme price,” and three others were injured as a result of multiple IED (Improvised Explosive Device) explosions and an ambush by Boko Haram members.
The affected soldiers, who are part of Combat Team One under Operation Katana Jimlan, were on a long-range administrative patrol along the Buni Yadi–Buni Gari axis on Monday, May 18.
“However, due to mental snap/distress occasioned by the fog of war, two of the soldiers who escaped the IED and terrorists’ ambush recorded the incident with uncomplimentary remarks about the Nigerian Army and her leadership, which was released on social media.
“Although this kind of outburst is expected in war, the soldiers involved have been identified and would undergo observation and counseling.”
You can also see this report here.
Subjecting to a thorough check, the second video, showing troops lamenting they were going back to their houses over the non-provision of adequate weapons to fight Boko Haram terrorists, it was discovered that this video was from 2014, according to a statement by Nigerian Army authorities in 2018.
FactWatch Nigeria couldn’t independently trace this clip to any social media link that confirmed that it was recorded in 2014.
Algorithms used by these social media platforms usually ‘break’ down any video posted on the platform and remove the initial meta tags encoded into the videos when they were being recorded.
According to the Guardian Nigeria, the Nigerian Army said this video showing some troops fighting Boko Haram insurgents in the country’s northeast leaving the frontline because of outdated weapons was shot in 2014.
“The video was recorded in 2014 and therefore cannot be a true reflection of the present reality,” former army spokesman Sani Usman said in a statement
Usman did not, however, provide any additional information on the location or the identity of the troops in the video.
Around August 2014, a report by AFP revealed that dozens of Nigerian soldiers refused to deploy for an offensive against Boko Haram Islamists until they received better weapons.
The troops said they had been ordered to move out of their barracks in the northeastern city of Maiduguri towards the Gwoza area of Borno state, where the insurgents have reportedly seized pockets of territory.
However, in December 2014, a Nigerian court martial sentenced 54 soldiers to death for refusing to fight Boko Haram Islamist militants.
The soldiers, who were found guilty of mutiny, were accused of refusing to help recapture three towns that had been seized by Boko Haram in August of the same year.
Conclusion
Findings have confirmed that the two videos of soldiers lamenting over alleged sabotage by army authorities and the non-provision of adequate weapons to fight insurgency in Nigeria’s northeast were old videos from 2020 and 2014, respectively. Therefore, these claims are MISLEADING.
