The Nigeria Police Force has arrested Ifechukwu Dennis, the individual accused of creating and circulating an artificial intelligence-generated voice note falsely presented as a leaked audio recording of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The arrest was announced on Thursday by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, via his official X account.
According to Onanuga, the suspect was apprehended by a special police team following investigations into the viral audio clip, which allegedly used AI technology to imitate President Tinubu’s voice and spread false claims.
“The IGP crack team has arrested Ifechukwu Dennis, who originated the fake voice recording and circulated it as President Tinubu’s voice,” Onanuga stated.
The controversy began on May 27, 2026, after a manipulated video featuring social media personality Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan (VDM), gained widespread attention online.
The altered video contained an AI-generated voice resembling that of the President, making provocative and controversial statements on national issues, including insecurity in the South-East, the 2023 presidential election, and the economic situation in the country.
Subsequent investigations by several media organisations reportedly established that VeryDarkMan neither created nor published the fake audio. Findings indicated that an unidentified individual extracted footage from one of his original Instagram videos and overlaid it with the fabricated AI-generated voice before circulating it across social media platforms.
The incident sparked significant debate over misinformation, deepfake technology, and the misuse of artificial intelligence to manipulate public opinion.
While the Presidency had initially called for action against VeryDarkMan before fact-checking reports emerged, the arrest of the alleged creator shifts attention toward those responsible for producing and distributing the manipulated content.
Authorities have yet to release full details regarding the circumstances of Dennis’s arrest or the specific charges that may be filed against him.
The development underscores growing concerns about the use of AI-generated content to spread false information and the challenges it poses to public trust, political discourse, and digital security.
