CLAIM: An Igbo Woman in the US Army has promised to invade Northern Nigeria to avenge crimes against the Igbo people. VERDICT: False. The photo is AI-generated. The woman is a Yoruba business professional. FULL STORY A viral photo claims the woman shown is an Igbo and a U.S. Army soldier. The photograph shows a
CLAIM: An Igbo Woman in the US Army has promised to invade Northern Nigeria to avenge crimes against the Igbo people.
VERDICT: False. The photo is AI-generated. The woman is a Yoruba business professional.
FULL STORY
A viral photo claims the woman shown is an Igbo and a U.S. Army soldier.
The photograph shows a woman with light skin standing in a room, dressed in a US Army uniform and holding a firearm.
A Facebook page ‘I News’ posted the photo alongside that of the US President, Donald Trump with a caption that reads, “Breaking News: An lgbo woman serving in the U.S.military says she can’t wait to invade Northern Nigeria and avenge
what Nigeria did to the Igbos, following Trump’s recent statement.
“Nigeria will start to respect the Igbos when I finally step
into that country – we are coming,” she said. Read more https://istbw.com/4/10000682”.
A screenshot of the Facebook post
The claim received nearly 6000 reactions, 2000 comments, and 380 shares.
Verification
NDRFactCheck findings show the claim is false.
The image was verified through Google Reverse Image Search, which identified the woman depicted as Victoria Olubanke Oniru. Ms. Oniru is a Nigerian businesswoman, social media personality, and activist, known online as @H_RH_bankeoniru_ on X (formerly Twitter). She has garnered recognition for her activism, particularly in relation to the #EndSARS protests. She was also an aspirant for the Senate seat in Lagos Central under the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 general elections.
An examination of her X profile page revealed that on November 6, 2025, she had shared the now-viral photograph in a post featuring a sarcastic caption: “Wey those bandits sef!”
I need directions to Sambisa forest, Benue, and southeast Nigeria.”
The original post on Banke Oniru’s X page
The claim regarding the sarcastic post arises in subsequent public discussions following the statement by U.S. President Donald Trump concerning a potential invasion of Nigeria.
On the 2nd of November 2025, Trump had alleged an ongoing Christian genocide in Nigeria and called out the Nigerian government on what he called the persecution of Christians in Nigeria and the Nigerian government’s negligence
“They’re killing record numbers of Christians in Nigeria. They’re killing the Christians and killing them in very large numbers. We’re not going to allow that to happen,” the US president said.
Further findings showed that the photo was generated using the Artificial Intelligence generative feature, which uses training models to produce text, images, videos and other forms of data. Banke Oniru confirmed that she generated the image herself and that it was included in a follow-up comment on her post.
Original photo used for the generation
“I edited the photo by myself. I used AI. I’m not an Igbo woman, nor a soldier. The post is misleading, I don’t have such powers to invade anywhere”, she said to NDRFactCheck in a phone conversation.
CONCLUSION
The claim that the woman in the photo is an Igbo U.S. Army member planning to invade Northern Nigeria is false; she is actually a Nigerian businesswoman of Yoruba descent.
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.