Olayiwola Matthew
The Presidency has dismissed a viral video that claimed United States troops had landed in Nigeria following threats of military intervention from U.S. President Donald Trump.
The clip, which circulated widely on social platforms, shows uniformed foreign personnel beside inflatable boats on a riverbank.
Reacting on Friday to a post on X by @Italian_Spencer, the Special Assistant to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Social Media, Dada Olusegun, wrote, “This is false!!!!”
The X post that accompanied the video was captioned: “Breaking News: US Army lands in Bonny Island, Rivers State!! Donald Trump wasn’t playing around.”
The clip had attracted more than 1,300 comments at the time of reporting and that the footage’s location remains undisclosed.
The Presidency’s rebuttal came amid heightened tensions after public statements from Trump about possible U.S. action in Nigeria.
In a White House video shared on Facebook, Trump said he was designating Nigeria a “country of particular concern,” a label that, he said, could open the door to intervention in cases of religious persecution.
He argued the number of Christians being killed in Nigeria was “alarming” compared with global figures and directed Congressman Riley Moore and House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole to investigate and report back.
Trump wrote, “If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U.S.A. will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities,” and added, “I am hereby instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible action. If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians! WARNING: THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT BETTER MOVE FAST!”