FACT CHECK: Video of terrorists shooting in Abuja false

An X (formerly Twitter) user, @somtolism7 (Daniel Somtochukwu), claimed that terrorists have taken over Abuja, alleging widespread gunshots across the city. “Gunshots raining heavily in the federal capital territory of Nigeria as terrorists are shooting and trying hard to take over Abuja,” the X user posted. The post, shared at 3:01 p.m. on Thursday, April […]

An X (formerly Twitter) user, @somtolism7 (Daniel Somtochukwu), claimed that terrorists have taken over Abuja, alleging widespread gunshots across the city.

“Gunshots raining heavily in the federal capital territory of Nigeria as terrorists are shooting and trying hard to take over Abuja,” the X user posted.

The post, shared at 3:01 p.m. on Thursday, April 9, 2026, quickly gained traction, amassing over 210,000 views, 1,894 likes, 931 reposts, 541 bookmarks, and 155 quote posts.

Given the sensitivity of the claim and Nigeria’s fragile security landscape, Daily Trust conducted a verification to determine the authenticity of both the video and the accompanying narrative.

Verification process

Keyframes from the viral video were extracted using InVID, a digital verification tool. A reverse image search conducted via Google revealed multiple matches corresponding to the frames. Notably, one of the exact matches traced the footage to an estate located in Katampe Extension, Abuja.

Further geolocation analysis using Picarta, another online tool, narrowed the location to the “Mpape” area within the Katampe axis of the Federal Capital Territory.

Nigeria has grappled with persistent insecurity over the years, including banditry, kidnappings, and communal clashes, leading to significant loss of lives and displacement of communities. This context underscores the potential for misinformation to trigger panic.

To assess the authenticity of the footage, the video was subjected to analysis using BitMind AI detector, which returned an 83% confidence score, indicating the footage is likely real and not artificially generated.

Additional deepfake analysis using Deepware AI found no evidence of manipulation. Key indicators included:
A stable wide-angle landscape at the opening frame with no visual distortions
(natural) consistency in sky and cloud formations throughout the clip, smooth panoramic motion maintaining realistic spatial relationships, foreground textures and background elements aligning with expected physical properties.

Additional metadata check indicated that the image was generated at 14:24:11 + (0000) about 2:24pm on Thursday April 9, 2026 and was later modified around 7:32pm same day.

Findings

Despite indications that the video itself is authentic, there is no evidence supporting the claim that it depicts an ongoing attack by terrorists in Abuja.

Eyewitness accounts from residents in the Katampe Extension area indicated that the environment remained calm at the time the video was posted and in the hours that followed.

Furthermore, there were no official police reports or credible media coverage corroborating claims of gunfire or an attack in the area on the stated date.

Verdict: Misleading

While the video appears to be genuine (without the audio), the claim that terrorists had taken over Abuja and were engaging in widespread gunfire is not supported by verifiable evidence.

Given Abuja’s strategic importance as Nigeria’s capital and location of the video, any such incident would likely have triggered immediate security responses, public panic, and extensive media coverage. The absence of these indicators strongly suggests the claim is misleading.