Posts falsely claim Nigerian minister was arrested in France

Published on December 30, 2025 at 12:11
2 min read
By Oluseyi AWOJULUGBE, AFP Nigeria

The campaign for the independence of Biafra and its secession from southeast Nigeria hit a major stumbling block after the life imprisonment of Nnamdi Kanu, its leader. A video widely shared on Facebook claims that Nyesom Wike, the current minister of Nigeria’s federal capital city, Abuja, was arrested in France for his role in sealing Kanu’s fate. This is false; when the claim was published in early December, Wike was commissioning projects in Abuja and attending government meetings.

“Wike don de konfess ooo, this is ser!!ous (sic),” reads the caption of a video published on Facebook on December 5, 2025.

Shared more than 4,100 times, the video includes pictures of Kanu, Wike and the rear view of a man being assisted onto an aircraft by police officers.

A narrator begins by saying Wike has confessed to his “wrongdoings” in France, and the US government has requested his extradition.

A second clip within the video shows a street with no visible subject in focus. While this footage plays, a woman says that Wike has been arrested in France and US President Donald Trump is demanding they send him to America.

“They want to ask him a question about what transpired in Obigbo,” the woman says. “I told all of you that everybody who has a hand in the kidnapping of Nnamdi Kanu, in the life imprisonment of Nnamdi Kanu, I tell all of you, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s situation will be better than all of you.”

Screenshot showing the false Facebook post, taken on December 22, 2025

The claim also appeared on Instagram.

Kanu, founder of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) movement, has led the campaign for the secession of Nigeria’s southeast. He was sentenced to life imprisonment on November 20, 2025, after he was found guilty of terrorism-related activities (archived here).

During Nigeria’s EndSARS protests in 2020, a clash between some youths said to be IPOB members and another group led to violence in Obigbo in Rivers state (archived here).

Wike, who was the Rivers state governor at the time, imposed a curfew on the area and outlawed IPOB activities in the state.

However, the claim that Wike was arrested in France for confessing to his role in securing Kanu’s conviction is false.

Active duty

Wike has occupied various public offices since 1999, and news of his arrest would have made headlines in Nigeria. Online searches did not bring back any such result.

However, other posts on Facebook explain that news of Wike’s arrest came from a satirical report and a fictional investigation (archived here).

While inspecting a road construction project in Abuja on December 6, 2025, Wike denied being arrested and blamed his political opponents for spreading the false news (archived here).

“People will like to distract you, but once you are focused, you won’t be perturbed. Critics will always try to play politics,” the two-time governor of Rivers state said.

Four days later, Wike attended the federal executive council meeting with Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu and other ministers in attendance (archived here).

On December 25, he also attended a ceremony where the leader of the Rivers state house of assembly was given a chieftaincy title (archived here).

AFP Fact Check has not received a response to questions sent to the French foreign ministry and Lere Olayinka, Wike’s spokesman.

We previously debunked a claim about Wike getting arrested at a US airport.

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