Police Arrest Suspect Over Fake Tinubu AI Voice Note

The Nigeria Police Force has arrested a suspect linked to the creation and circulation of an AI-generated voice note falsely attributed to President Bola Tinubu.

The Nigeria Police Force has arrested Ifechukwu Dennis, the individual accused of producing and sharing an AI-generated voice recording that was falsely presented as a leaked conversation involving President Bola Tinubu.

The development was disclosed by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, in a post shared on X on Thursday. He said the suspect was tracked and arrested in Benin by a special police unit.

“The IGP crack team has arrested Ifechukwu Dennis who originated the fake voice that he passed on to his gullible targets as President Tinubu’s voice,” Onanuga stated.

According to him, the police are expected to release an official statement detailing the circumstances surrounding the arrest and ongoing investigation.

The case stems from a viral incident on May 27, 2026, when a manipulated video featuring social media commentator Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan (VDM), circulated widely online. The clip contained an AI-generated voice resembling President Tinubu and included several controversial claims about national security and politics.

Among the claims were allegations that insecurity in the South-East was deliberate, that the President pressured opposition candidate Peter Obi to withdraw from the 2023 presidential election, and that he was indifferent to economic hardship in the country.

However, subsequent investigations by multiple media organisations found that VeryDarkMan had no involvement in producing the fake audio. Reports showed that an unknown individual had extracted footage from his original social media post and overlaid it with the AI-generated voice before distributing it online.

Despite these findings, initial reactions from the Presidency included calls for legal action against the activist, a position that later drew criticism after fact-checkers clarified that he was not responsible for the manipulated content.

Authorities say the arrest marks a major step in addressing the growing challenge of AI-generated misinformation and digital impersonation in Nigeria.

What impact do you think AI-generated fake content will have on trust in social media going forward?