By Pascal Ibe

Claim

An X user, @Asafaabdulwasi2, shared a photo of paraded terrorists and linked it to the recent arrest of Mahmuda terror group members by the Nigerian army in Kwara State, Nigeria’s North Central region.

Verdict

The image attached to the claim is MISLEADING. While it has been confirmed that the Nigerian army nabbed 12 terrorists in Kwara State. However, Investigation revealed that this image, shared by the X user, was from the arrest of EIGS terrorists by the Niger Republic soldiers in the Tillabéri region in March.

Full Text

An X user, @Asafaabdulwasi2, has shared a photo of paraded terrorists and linked it to the recent arrest of Mahmuda terror group members by the Nigerian army in Kwara State, Nigeria’s North Central region.

In a post, the X user posted the photo alongside the claim that “These are some of the members of arrested ‘Mahmuda’ terror group operating in Ilesha Baruba, Kemaanji in Baruten and Kaiama local government areas of Kwara State respectively and around Kainji Lake Forest in Niger state.

Many users who commented doubted if this post was true as it has already garnered over 199k views and more than 1.9k likes as of May 12.

Verification

FACTWATCH Nigeria found credible news reports that confirmed that the Nigerian Army on Saturday arrested at least 12 suspected terrorists linked to a Boko Haram splinter group known as Mahmuda, which reportedly occupied parts of the Kainji Lake National Park.

The General Officer Commanding 2 Division of the Nigerian Army, Maj. Gen. Obinna Onubogu said that the arrests followed a series of raids conducted within the national park and surrounding border communities.

Check this report here and here.

However, an independent check by subjecting the image shared by the X user to a Google Image Reverse Search showed that this photo was from the arrest of EIGS terrorists by the Niger Republic soldiers in the Tillabéri region in March.

A local news outlet in Niger Republic, Echos DU Niger, reported that Nigerien army announced on, March 15, 2025, that nine (09) soldiers fell at the front and seven (07) others were wounded following a large-scale military operation carried out on the Kiral gold site, in the Tillabéri region, towards the Burkinabe border.

The air-land raid carried out with the support of Burkinabe forces, targeted EIGS attackers, and made it possible to neutralize at least forty-five (45) terrorists, the arrest of dozens of suspects as well as the recovery of a large arsenal composed of weapons, ammunition as well as various war materials, motorcycles and means of communication.

A publication by Niger government press agency also corroborated this report

However, Zagazola Makama, a counter-insurgency media organization, reported on March 19th that the lack of weapons or motorcycles, hallmarks of terrorist groups operating in the region, further casts doubt on the legitimacy of these arrests, fueling suspicions of ethnic profiling and arbitrary detentions.

Zagazola stated that such indiscriminate crackdowns could have devastating consequences for an already fragile region. With Tillabéri caught in the crossfire between armed groups and government forces, the humiliation and persecution of innocent civilians could drive disillusioned youth into the hands of extremist factions. Instead of weakening insurgents, these actions risk bolstering recruitment for terrorist groups that thrive on resentment and injustice.

Conclusion

Findings indicated that the Nigerian army recently arrested suspected terrorists in Kwara State. However, the image attached to the post by the X user was from Niger Republic in March. Therefore, it’s MISLEADING.