Police arrest man over viral AI-generated voice impersonating Tinubu

The Nigeria Police Force has apprehended Ifechukwu Dennis, the individual alleged to have created an AI-generated voice note that went viral online and was falsely shared as a leaked audio of President Bola Tinubu.

The arrest was disclosed on Thursday by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, in a statement posted via his official X handle.

“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,” he said.

The arrest closes a week-long controversy that began on May 27, 2026, when a video of social media activist Martins Vincent Otse, popularly 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.

Investigations by multiple news organisations, however, established that VDM had not posted the doctored audio.

An unidentified individual had extracted footage from VDM’s original Instagram video and superimposed the AI-generated voice notes before recirculating the manipulated version 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.