Fact Check: Video of Nepal Protest Misrepresented as Nigeria Rally for Detained Separatist Leader

A viral video purportedly showing protests in Nigeria has been exposed as footage from an entirely different continent, according to a fact-check investigation.

Social media users have been sharing video footage of a large crowd gathered at a crossroads, claiming it shows demonstrations in Abuja, Nigeria on October 20 in support of detained separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu. Several Facebook posts explicitly described the scene as “happening live in Abuja.”

While protests did occur in Nigeria’s capital that day, the viral footage actually depicts events in Kathmandu, Nepal — more than 8,000 kilometers (5,000 miles) away from the claimed location.

Reuters confirmed that Nigerian police fired tear gas and blocked major roads during the October 20 protests, which called for authorities to release Kanu. The British citizen leads the banned Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) group and faces terrorism-related charges stemming from his campaign for the secession of southeastern Nigeria. Kanu has denied all wrongdoing.

Visual analysis of the viral footage reveals unmistakable landmarks of Nepal’s federal parliament complex, visible throughout the video. Key architectural features and surrounding buildings match precisely with Google Street View imagery of Madan Bhandari Road in Kathmandu.

Further investigation traced the original video to TikTok, where it was posted by user “mahesh.hardford” on September 8 — more than a month before the Nigerian protests. The TikTok user uploaded two additional videos showing the same crowd from the same vantage point on that date.

Public records identify the TikTok account owner as the founder of Hardford Education, a company whose office is located at the exact spot on Madan Bhandari Road where the video was filmed. When questioned by other users in his comments section, the account owner explained the footage showed youth-led anti-corruption demonstrations in Nepal.

The timing matches a significant protest that occurred in Nepal on September 8, when thousands of demonstrators, many in their twenties or younger, rallied against government corruption and a recent social media shutdown. The protests escalated dramatically, with some demonstrators forcing their way into Kathmandu’s federal parliament complex in what observers described as Nepal’s worst unrest in decades.

This incident highlights the increasing problem of misattributed protest footage circulating online, where genuine videos from one country are repurposed to exaggerate or misrepresent political movements elsewhere. Such misinformation can distort public understanding of global events and fuel misconceptions about political situations in various countries.

While Nigeria did experience genuine protests calling for Kanu’s release, the viral footage being shared does not document those events, but rather captures an unrelated political demonstration that occurred thousands of miles away.