A video showing military men jogging through a tarred road has been trending on X. On Friday, an X account shared the same video and captioned it with the claim that a special military squad had been deployed to Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi and Katsina states to bring terrorists to book within 48 days.

“OPERATION END BELLO TURJI. Special squad deployed to Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi, and Katsina to bring Bello Turji and there(sic) likes within 48 days. To Allah ya basu saa,” @A_Y_Rafindadi’s caption read.

CLAIM: A special military squad has been deployed to northwestern states to combat terrorism in 48 days.

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VERIFICATION: FIJ traced the clip back to June 15 from @kizyuzoma, another X user, who claimed the clip showed soldiers recruited to fight against Biafraland. @kizyuzoma’s claim, too, is unreliable and unverified.

The post from @A_Y_Rafindadi had gained over 618,000 views, and 11,700 likes and comments, at press time. @A_Y_Rafindadi’s post came after another X video trended on August 31, showing terrorists loyal to terror kingpin Turji, dressed in military uniform, jubilating around a Nigerian Army Mines Resistant Armour Personnel (MRAP) vehicle stuck in a muddy spot.

Meanwhile, on September 1, the Ministry of Defence announced that minister of defence Bello Matawalle and other security chiefs had been deployed to the northwest to flush out banditry in the region.

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“The Honourable Minister of State has directed the Chief of Defence Staff and other military chiefs to move to Sokoto which is the Headquarters of the GOC Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina and Kebbi states with him as part of an intensified effort by the Federal Government to rid the North West of the menace of banditry, kidnapping and terrorism,” part of the defence ministry’s statement read.

The security chiefs’ deployment, however, did not produce the trending video in @A_Y_Rafindadi’s Friday post.

In fact, the same clip had appeared two months earlier in another X post.

CONCLUSION: The video showing the purported special military squad to flush out Turji and other armed bandits is old.

VERDICT: @A_Y_Rafindadi’s post and caption are misleading.