A viral video has purportedly shown the moment Musa Uba, a brigadier general, was killed by insurgents in Borno state.
Uba was reportedly killed by Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) fighters following an ambush on a convoy of soldiers and operatives of the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) in Borno on Friday.
Following the ambush, there were reports that Uba had been abducted by the insurgents.
However, Onyechi Anele, the army spokesperson, denied the reports on Saturday, insisting that the brigadier general battled the “insurgents’ ambush with superior firepower,” forcing them to withdraw in disarray and abandon their mission.
Uba was also reported to have released a video statement, confirming he was alive, unharmed, and fully in command.
ISWAP refuted Anele’s statement, insisting that the terrorist group executed the military general after he was captured.
President Bola Tinubu confirmed Uba’s death on Tuesday.
After ISWAP said it executed the brigadier general, a video began circulating on social media purportedly showing his last moments.
In the clip, the officer is seen seated on the ground before being shot in the head.
However, CableCheck identified several irregularities in the footage consistent with artificial intelligence (AI) manipulation.
In the clip, the gun goes off, but the general does not collapse immediately. Instead, there is a noticeable pause before he tips over, which is unusual for an actual close-range shooting.
“You can see that he has started falling even before the bullet impact,” Timothy Avele, a security expert, told CableCheck.
There was also no visible impact from the supposed bullet. After the shot was fired, there was no splatter, jolt, or any sign that a bullet made contact with his head. The physical reaction was inconsistent with a real gunshot.
A headshot typically produces immediate bleeding, yet his head and the ground around him remain clean, with no blood draining or pooling.
Despite the claimed close-range shot, his cap stayed perfectly in place. A real bullet impact would likely knock it off or at least shift it.
The video was also run through DOT (Deepfake Offensive Toolkit), a programmable deepfake offensive and detection software solution.
The results showed that the video was AI-generated.
