Claim: A video shared on X depicted residents of Zurmi Local Government in Zamfara fleeing after the alleged abduction of 500 people.
Verdict: The clip was adapted from a violent event in Burkina Faso in 2021.
Full Text
Terrorism in Zamfara, Nigeria, has greatly impacted the region, with armed groups and bandits frequently engaging in violent activities. These groups have been responsible for numerous attacks on villages, such as the assaults on Tsafe, Shinkafi, and Anka. These attacks have involved kidnappings for ransom and widespread violence, disrupting daily life, displacing communities, and creating a climate of fear and uncertainty among residents.
In such a volatile environment, misinformation can spread rapidly. More often than not, terrorist groups instill fear using propaganda in order to exaggerate their power and undermine the people’s trust in the government. When spread through social media or by word of mouth, false information can lead to panic and violence. This misinformation complicates efforts to address the root causes of violence and hinders the implementation of effective security measures.
In light of the foregoing, an X user shared a 30-second clip showing a crowd of people gliding swiftly down a path, with the caption:
“Over 500 people have been kidnapped in Zurmi LG of Zamfara. People are now displaced, migrating from their villages to unknown locations. The most disheartening thing is that upon all these calamities, the whereabouts of the governor is still unknown.”
As of the time of press, the post had accrued 28,000 views, followed by 62 comments. Several X accounts were seen to have shared the post, as can be found here and here.
The Context in Zamfara
Zurmi, a town in Zamfara State, is notorious for its incessant kidnappings.. Two months earlier, the Nigerian military reported a successful operation leading to the deaths of about 100 gunmen in the state.
Criminal gangs, operating from hidden camps inside a vast forest spanning Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, and Niger states, target schools and colleges for mass kidnappings.
The unabated spate of attacks on the state has stirred mounting frustration among local communities, who are peeved about the lack of response from state authorities. This silence intensifies the anxiety and displacement experienced by affected residents, compounding the difficulties faced in this volatile region.
Following no media report on the incident, we launched an investigation to verify the claims
Verification
A reverse image search on a screenshot of the clip showed that the video dates back to 2021 and was originally shared by a Germany-based charity organisation named SAIDA.
The caption, written in German, clarified that the footage depicted “the people of Burkina Faso” fleeing “in their own country,” accompanied by the hashtag #solhan, indicating it showed residents of Solhan, near Burkina Faso’s border with Niger and Mali.
Similarly, Lobs Paalga, a media outlet in Burkina Faso, uploaded footage of the exodus on its YouTube channel the same day as SAIDA, with the caption “Inhabitants of Solhan.”
On June 5, 2021, UNICEF reported that 130 people, many of whom were children, were killed in Solhan by a “non-state armed group” allegedly composed of child rebels.
Burkina Faso, like Nigeria, has been a hotbed of insurgency since 2015, driven by jihadist groups exploiting ethnic tensions and local grievances in the country’s northern and eastern regions.
With over two million people evicted from their homes, the conflicts have worsened humanitarian conditions, leaving many to contend with acute food insecurity and limited access to basic services.
Conclusion
While Zamfara undoubtedly grapples with terrorism and ongoing issues, the video used to depict these tensions is false and misleading. The footage was taken from an unrelated incident in Burkina Faso in 2021, not from a recent event in Zamfara, Nigeria. Misinformation such as this only serves to exacerbate the already challenging situation in the region.
A video shared on X claims to show residents of Zurmi Local Government in Zamfara fleeing due to the abduction of 500 people. However, this video was actually taken from a violent event in Burkina Faso in 2021.
Terrorism in Zamfara, Nigeria, has caused extensive disruption, with numerous kidnappings and violent attacks impacting daily life and displacing communities. This environment of fear is exacerbated by misinformation, which terrorist groups use to propagate fear and undermine trust in the government.
Claims about the recent abductions in Zurmi were widely shared on social media, yet no media reports corroborated these events. Upon investigation, it was found that the video was originally shared by a Germany-based charity and depicted events in Burkina Faso, not Nigeria.
While Zamfara continues to face serious issues with terrorism, using misleading information such as misappropriated videos only worsens the situation by spreading unnecessary panic.
