Presidency dismisses viral video claiming US troops landed in Nigeria

Presidency dismisses viral video claiming US troops landed in Nigeria

The Presidency on Friday dismissed a widely shared video that claimed United States troops had landed in Bonny Island, Rivers State, calling the clip “false.”

The Special Assistant to President Bola Tinubu on Social Media, Dada Olusegun, reacted to the post on X (formerly Twitter) by user @Italian_Spencer, who captioned the clip: “Breaking News: US Army lands in Bonny Island, Rivers State!! Donald Trump wasn’t playing around.” The video — which shows uniformed foreign military personnel beside inflatable boats on a riverbank at an undisclosed location — had attracted hundreds of comments online before the Presidency denied its authenticity.

The denial comes amid escalating rhetoric from former US President Donald Trump, who this week said Christianity in Nigeria faces an “existential threat” from radical Islamist violence and announced that he had designated Nigeria a “country of particular concern” — a classification that, he said, could justify US intervention in cases of religious persecution.

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In a video shared by the White House on Facebook, Mr. Trump described the number of Christians killed in Nigeria as “alarming” and asked Congressman Riley Moore and House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole to investigate the matter and report back “immediately.” He said the United States “cannot stand by” while Christians are attacked and asserted that America stood “ready, willing and able to save our great Christian population around the world.”

Trump also posted on his Truth Social account, accusing the Nigerian government of allowing attacks on Christians and ordering the U.S. War Department to “prepare for possible action.” He warned that the United States could “immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria” if the killings continue and suggested the possibility of military intervention, using vivid language that he said described how any attack would be conducted: “fast, vicious, and sweet.”

The viral footage and the accompanying online speculation heightened tensions on social media as Nigerians and international observers weighed the implications of Washington’s public statements. The Presidency’s brief rebuttal of the clip sought to put to rest claims of an on-the-ground US military presence in Nigeria.

Presidency dismisses viral video claiming US troops landed in Nigeria