POLICE ARREST SUSPECT BEHIND AI-GENERATED TINUBU VOICE NOTE

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HOTJIST NEWS

The Nigerian Police Force has caught Ifechukwu Dennis, the person who created an AI voice message that spread online as a fake recording of President Bola Tinubu.

Bayo Onanuga, the President’s advisor on information and strategy, shared the news on Thursday through his official X account.

He said, “The IGP’s special team has arrested Ifechukwu Dennis, who made up the fake voice and gave it to others as if it was President Tinubu’s voice.”

This arrest ends a controversy that started on May 27, 2026, when a video of social media activist Martins Vincent Otse, known as VeryDarkMan, went viral.

In the clip, an AI-generated voice resembling Tinubu’s was heard making inflammatory statements — including that insecurity in the South-East was deliberate, that he had pressured Peter Obi to step down ahead of the 2023 election, and that he was indifferent to Nigerians’ suffering.

Several news outlets looked into the situation and found out that VDM did not post the altered audio themselves. A person who wasn’t identified took part of the original video from VDM’s Instagram post, added fake voice notes created by AI, and then shared the changed video again online.

Despite this, the Presidency had initially called for VDM’s prosecution.

Onanuga had described the incident as “a clear case of egregious abuse of the social media platform,” drawing criticism after fact-checkers confirmed VDM’s original video contained none of the fabricated audio.

Further details on the circumstances of Dennis’s arrest and the charges he may face were not immediately available at the time of filing this report.