By Pascal Ibe

Claim

X users posted a video of TY Danjuma alongside the claim that he recently asked Nigerians to defend themselves over the current unending insecurity in the country.

Verdict

This claim is MISLEADING. Checks indicated this was an old video from October 2022 but recycled as a current one in 2025.

Full Text

Many X users have shared a video of Theophilus Danjuma (TY Danjuma) asking Nigerians to defend themselves as the military is unwilling to do so.

This was a result of unending killings, abductions, and insecurity in some parts of the country, especially the North Central, Northwest, and Northeast regions.

@Akparawasunny who published the video on 11th April 2025, wrote, “The Best Defense is attack, in 2025 TY DANJUMA has Reiterated again that the Nigeria government brought the Islamic Fulani jihadist terrorist to kill us all, Get the weapons the same way the Fulani terrorist got theirs & either ways to Fight back 🔙

The two other X users who also posted this video claimed it was a 2025 speech from TY Danjuma.

This claim by three X users has generated over 21k views and more than a thousand reposts, according to X analytics.

Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma is a Nigerian politician and retired lieutenant general who played a key role in post-independence military and political events in Nigeria.

He was Chief of Army Staff from July 1975 to October 1978. He was also Minister of Defence under President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration.

Verification

Simple findings by subjecting the keyframes from this video to a Google Image Reverse Search showed that this was a video from October 2022, not 2025.

TY Danjuma spoke on 22nd October 2022, when he delivered a goodwill message in Wukari, Taraba State, where Governor Darius Ishaku presented staff of office to His Majesty Manu Ishaku Adda Ali, the 25th Aku Uka.

He knocked the military for living in denial over Nigeria’s aggravating security challenges, saying the “evidence” of what he said four years ago is now obvious for all eyes to see.

Danjuma had, in March 2018, urged Nigerians to defend themselves against their killers, but his call for self-defense attracted stark criticisms.

Watch the full video in 2022 here.

Conclusion

TY Danjuma is yet to speak publicly on the current insecurity in Nigeria in 2025. The video of his comments being circulated on the X platform is not recent.