The Nigeria Police Force has arrested a suspect accused of creating and circulating an artificial intelligence-generated voice recording falsely attributed to President Bola Tinubu, bringing an end to days of controversy surrounding the viral audio clip.
The suspect, identified as Ifechukwu Dennis, was apprehended in Benin City by a special police team, according to the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.
Onanuga disclosed the arrest in a post shared on his official X handle on Thursday, stating that investigators traced the fake audio to Dennis, who allegedly distributed it to unsuspecting members of the public as an authentic recording of the President.
“The IGP crack team has arrested Ifechukwu Dennis, who originated the fake voice and circulated it as President Tinubu’s voice. Dennis was arrested in Benin,” Onanuga wrote.
The development follows a week-long uproar triggered by a viral video posted on May 27, 2026, by social media personality Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan.
In the video, an AI-generated voice closely resembling that of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was heard making a series of controversial remarks.
The audio purportedly suggested that insecurity in the South-East was being deliberately sustained, claimed that former presidential candidate Peter Obi had been pressured to withdraw from the 2023 election, and implied indifference to the economic hardship faced by Nigerians.
The recording sparked widespread reactions on social media, with many users questioning its authenticity and raising concerns over the growing misuse of artificial intelligence technology to create deceptive content.
Authorities have yet to provide further details on the charges to be filed against the suspect, but the arrest underscores increasing efforts by security agencies to tackle the spread of misinformation and digitally manipulated content.