By Pascal Ibe
Claim
An X user, Bolaji Oyepoju @Bolajioyepoju posted an image of a blindfolded Chinese National and claimed he was paraded recently for aiding the terrorist activities of Boko Haram.
Verdict
The claim that the arrest of a Chinese National happened recently is MISLEADING. Findings and credible news reports show that the incident took place in 2025. Also, there’s no concrete evidence that the image used to depict the arrested Chinese National was his real identity as the military did not give details of the foreigner.
Full Text
Since the United States President Donald Trump ordered military deployment to Nigeria to help in the fight against terrorism, some Nigerians have argued that this step will only worsen insecurity in the country.
This is as some others also argued that some foreigners living in Nigeria are aiding terrorism, and that it has served as a money-making venture for them.
In the fight against terror, especially in the North-east, it continues even with some hope that it will end someday, some citizens have alleged that top government officials and powerful individuals are backing terrorists.
An X user, @BolajiOyepoju, shared a photo of a blindfolded Chinese National parade, and claimed he was arrested for aiding the Boko Haram terrorists in Borno State.
He post reads, “Breaking🔥
This blindfolded Chinese man was caught alongside Boko Haram members while aiding them in the operation of their drones used in attacking the Nigerian military allegedly🤔
“This battle is bigger than what many Nigerians thought, the Natural deposits are one of the reason for insecurity in Nigeria and they are sponsored by Nigerian elites and other foreign interest.
“MORAL LESSON✅
Wake up Nigeria youth forget about religion sentiment let’s take back our country.”
The post by X user gained traction with over 222k views and a thousand reposts.
Many other X users who commented on the post expressed shock and believed this was recent.
Verification
Results from a keyword search on Google for this claim showed that the National Defence Headquarters (DHQ) announced the arrest of the Chinese National in June 2025, and NOT recently.
According to news reports last year, the DHQ said soldiers fighting the counterinsurgency operations have arrested a Chinese national in Borno State.
Director, Defence Media Operations, Major General Markus Kangye, who made this known, however, did not reveal the identity of the Chinese national who claimed to be a miner and is currently in custody undergoing interrogation.
There’s no concrete evidence that the image used to depict the arrested Chinese National was his real identity as the military did not give details of the foreigner.
This development comes less than a week after the military revealed it had apprehended four Pakistani nationals in the region, allegedly involved in training terrorists.
Gen Kangye, at a media briefing in Abuja on Friday, also announced the arrest of five terrorists’ logistics suppliers.
Giving an update on military operations conducted in the last week, Gen. Kangye also said: “Troops arrested five terrorists logistics suppliers, collaborators, and a Chinese national claiming to be a miner during well-coordinated operations conducted in Kukawa and Ngala LGAs of Borno State, as well as Geidam LGA of Yobe State between 5 and 7 June 2025. Amongst the items recovered were a vehicle, a motorcycle, mobile phones, a Chinese International passport, while the sum of N10,000.00 was also recovered from them.”
See similar reports on this here and here.
Conclusion
An incident that occurred in June 2025 was recirculated with a claim that it was a fresh story in March 2026. Therefore, it is MISLEADING.
