On August 8, 2023, a Tiktok user shared a video with the claim that the Nigerian Army apprehended some bandits at the Kontagora Forest in Niger State. The footage resurfaced on Facebook recently and was shared across social media platforms with the caption, “If assume it was in Biafra land now. It will be a pool of blood, the burning of innocent people’s houses, the burning of markets by the so-called security agency.”
Verification:
The CDD War Room subjected the video and the link to a Google Reverse Image search and Invid. The result shows that on August 19, 2023, TVC News Nigeria reported on its YouTube handle that about 3500 illegal miners had been arrested at Dogon Yatsu forest in Bali Local Government Area of Taraba State, North East Nigeria, by the special task force on illegal mining and deforestation.
Similarly, on August 21, 2023, The Peoples Gazette Nigeria reported that the Taraba State Task Force on the Enforcement of Ban on Illegal Mining and Deforestation has arrested 3,500 illegal miners in Bali Local Government Area of the state. This is because the illegal miners extract solid minerals take and make billions of naira on a daily basis at the expense of the locals. They damage the ecosystem and environment, which will precipitates multiple effects.
In addition, The Nation News Paper reported on August 22, 2023, that the Taraba Task Force on the Enforcement of the Ban on Illegal Mining and Deforestation had arrested 3,500 illegal miners in Bali Local Government Area (LGA) of the state.
Retired Brig.-Gen. Jeremiah Faransa, Chairman of the Task Force, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Jalingo.
Verdict: Misleading
CDD War Room confirms the viral video of the bandit’s arrest in Kontagora Forest, Niger State, shared across social media platforms is misleading. The video is from the arrest of illegal miners that took place in Dogon Yatsu forest in Bali Local Government Area of Taraba State on August 21, 2023.