Footage shows Ghana school inferno, not terror attack on Nigerian church

“Another Church burned down by Islamic brotherhood in northern Nigeria,” reads the text overlay on a TikTok post published on November 2, 2025.

Image

Screenshot showing the false post, taken on November 13, 2025

In the video, women wearing two types of green and white uniforms are seen wailing as a building burns in the background. 

The post was shared by an account called “wakawakaplanet”. A review of the account’s feed shows it posts content critical of Islam and its doctrines. 

Nigeria and the United States have been embroiled in a diplomatic row since October 31, 2025, when Trump said he was naming Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) — a State Department designation for nations accused of religious freedom violations — for the killing of Christians by “radical Islamists” (archived here).

The decision followed weeks of coordinated social media posts and months of lobbying by US officials claiming Christians in Africa's most populous country are facing a “genocide” — a claim the Nigerian government denies (archived here and here). 

With a population of about 230 million, Nigeria is roughly evenly split between a predominantly Christian south and a Muslim-majority north. It is home to various conflicts that experts say have killed devotees of both faiths, often without distinction (archived here).

However, the TikTok post does not show a Nigerian church being burned by insurgents.

Ghanaian nursing school

Using Google Lens to conduct reverse image searches on keyframes from the clip, AFP Fact Check found the same clip published on Instagram on November 2, 2025 (archived here).

The post describes the video as a “heart-wrenching moment” when fire engulfed the hostels of “Kwapong Nursing Training College in the Asunafo South District of the Ahafo Region”.

“The crackling of burning wood and the acrid smell of smoke filled the air, further intensifying the emotional turmoil among these young aspiring healthcare professionals whose safe haven was now being reduced to ashes before their very eyes,” part of the caption reads. 

At the end of the caption, the post adds that the incident happened on “Friday, 31st October 2025”.

Using keywords from the caption to conduct an internet search, we found numerous articles in Ghanaian media about the fire at the nursing school, including here and here (archived here and here). 

According to the reports, while the building sustained severe damage, there were no casualties.