A video circulating widely on social media shows suspected armed bandits openly displaying large wads of cash that observers believe came from ransom payments, raising fresh concerns over Nigeria’s worsening security situation.
Conflict and security journalist, Bakatsine, shared the footage in a X post on Saturday.
Sharing the footage on his X account, wrote: “This video shows bandits flaunting money obtained through ransom payments. May Allah bring an end to this tragedy and grant Nigeria lasting peace.”
Armed gangs have repeatedly attacked villages, travellers, schools, and farming communities across the North-West and parts of the North-Central, where kidnapping for ransom has become increasingly widespread in recent years.
Despite collecting ransom payments, the criminals have expanded their operations into southern Nigeria, abducting residents and travellers while killing some of their victims.
How Nigerian terrorists use TikTok, exploit country’s digital governance gap
Similarly, a report by Premium Times also verifies this. According to the report, a week after the Sadiku-led Boko Haram faction killed and kidnapped over 170 women and children from Woro in Kaiama, Kwara State, the group released a video on TikTok mocking the government and accusing it of “deceit and infidelity” for downplaying the number of kidnapped victims.
The 90-second video was shared on the Chinese-owned social media platform by a handler identified as Abu Muhammad Abba, a coinage that could be genuine but is more likely a pseudonym, as is common within jihadist circles.
However, shortly after the clip went viral in February, both the video and the account disappeared from the platform, suggesting that the account may have been deactivated or the content removed.
Sadly, with these and several other clips, the Nigerian military appears to have little to no results with regards to tracking these bandits down.
Backstory…
In recent times, concerns have been drawn towards the audacity of bandits across social media. Previous videos of bandits boldly displaying arms cash online have also surfaced.
In very recent development, reports indicate that several Nigerians are willingly giving bandits their bank account numbers to receive a cut of illicit ransom money extorted from kidnapping victims across the nation.
Highlighting this trend, business analyst Bolaji Fesomade revealed on his X (formerly Twitter) page that numerous users openly shared their account details during a live TikTok session, begging the criminals to credit them with a portion of the ransom cash.
He wrote, “Yesterday, some Nigerians dropped their account no. for a bandit on TikTok for giveaway, and the bandit credited them with ransom money. This highlights our core issue: the average citizen enables crime. When DSS traces his funds to you, expect arrest & jail time alongside him.”
Corroborating this claim, another social media user, Danny from Owerri, confirmed that the bandits explicitly told the commenters that the cash came directly from kidnapping ransoms. Despite this disturbing revelation, eager users continued to drop their account info in the chat.
Read Also: Senate Demands Action Over Bandits Showing Off Cash on TikTok
Watch the video here
VIDEO: This video show bandits flaunting money obtained through ransom payments.
May Allah bring an end to this tragedy and grant Nigeria lasting peace. pic.twitter.com/EEWgcAzPxa
— Bakatsine (@DanKatsina50) June 27, 2026
