Video of ‘alien’ in Nigeria is a computer-generated image

This article is more than one year old.
Published on April 14, 2023 at 11:49
2 min read
By Tonye BAKARE, AFP Nigeria

A recent social media post claimed a video showed an alien invasion in Katsina state in northwest Nigeria. But the claim is false: the clip was computer-generated in 2019 by Nicaraguan video producers.

“May God protect us,” reads the caption of the Facebook post, which was written in Hausa.

A screenshot of the false Facebook post, taken on April 11, 2023

The short clip, which has been shared more than 2,300 times, features an alien-like creature walking in an open field and a voiceover.

“May God protect the people in Katsina state,” says the video’s narrator in Hausa. “These aliens have been coming. This will be the third time we have witnessed their arrival.”

Many of the comments below the video suggested that the claim was false, but some viewers seemed to believe it was true.

The Facebook account that published the video shares content in Hausa, which is predominantly spoken in northern Nigeria, including Katsina where it claimed the video was filmed.

Katsina is one of several states in northwest and central Nigeria that are terrorised by criminal gangs, locally known as bandits, who raid and burn villages, killing or abducting residents in the process.

However, the claim that Katsina was invaded by aliens is false.

Computer-generated image

Using the InVID-WeVerify video verification tool, AFP Fact Check found that the video was first published online in 2019.

A longer version of the footage was published on a YouTube channel called JJPD Producciones on February 27, 2019 (archived here). The channel’s “about” section explains that it belongs to two Nicaraguan brothers (archived here).

The caption, in Spanish, explains that the “alien” seen in the clip is a “computer-generated image” and was created by Jose Joaquin Perez and Jimmy Jose Perez.

“These are paranormal videos created by us to entertain. All the images shown are fictional.”

The original video features a Spanish narration instead of the Hausa that appeared in the false claim.

The YouTube channel has published several other computer-generated videos featuring “aliens” here and here (archived here and here).

Other videos it has produced featuring a goblin-like creature hiding under a car and a winged creature on a rooftoop have been the subjects of past AFP fact checks (here and here).

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Katsina police said the video was “fake”.

“There was nothing like that in Katsina,” Gambo Isah told AFP Fact Check.

Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.

E-mail