Police nab culprit behind AI-generated voice note of Tinubu

The Nigeria Police Force has arrested Ifechukwu Dennis, the man accused of creating and sharing an AI-generated voice note that was falsely presented as a leaked recording of the President of Nigeria.

The Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, confirmed the arrest in a post shared on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday.

According to him, “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.”

The case involves claims that the suspect used artificial intelligence to imitate the voice of Bola Tinubu and spread it as a leaked message.

Dennis’ arrest marks a significant development in a controversy that erupted on May 27, 2026, following the circulation of a viral video featuring social media commentator Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan (VDM).

The manipulated clip contained an AI-generated voice resembling that of President Tinubu, making a series of controversial claims, including allegations that insecurity in the South-East was intentional, that he had pressured Peter Obi to withdraw from the 2023 presidential race, and that he was unconcerned about the hardships faced by Nigerians.

Subsequent investigations by several media organisations found that VeryDarkMan was not responsible for publishing the fabricated audio.

Reports indicated that an unidentified person had taken footage from VeryDarkMan’s original Instagram post, overlaid it with the AI-generated voice recording, and then redistributed the altered version across social media platforms.

Despite findings that cleared the activist of involvement, the Presidency initially advocated legal action against him over the incident.

At the time, Onanuga had described the episode as “a clear case of egregious abuse of the social media platform,” a position that attracted criticism after fact-checkers established that the original video shared by VeryDarkMan did not contain the fabricated audio.

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