Onanuga’s private investigator faults fake AI voice note arrest
A man who claims to have conducted the original investigation that traced the origin of the fake artificial intelligence (AI) voice note attached to President Tinubu has come online to criticise the government for using their footage without proper consultation.
In a viral video circulating on social media, he said that the Department of State Services (DSS) arrested an individual on incomplete information and false premises.
He argued that the president’s special adviser on information and strategy, Bayo Onanuga, misrepresented the facts of the case at a press conference.
Onanuga on Tuesday, via his official X handle, announced that the Inspector General of Police (IGP) team has carried out an arrest of Ifechukwu Dennis, who is alleged to be the originator of the artificial intelligence fake voice note in Benin.
The fake voice note, which was first linked to a popular social media influencer, Martins Vincent Otse, widely known as VDM, is the audio clip in which it is said that President Tinubu was heard reacting to the country’s political situation, insecurity in the South-East, and the 2027 election plans.
In the audio, VDM asked the listeners, “After this audio that I am about to play, I would ask if they are cooking Nigerians who will support Tinubu in 2027, or if you guys are okay.”
This led to the presidency acting on knowing the identity of the fake news peddler by hiring a tech expert to find out where the audio came from, and it has been announced that the person has been arrested by the Nigerian Police, stating that the police will issue an official statement.
However, the tech expert who conducted the investigation has come out and said that while Dennis shared the “dark man’s video,” he is not the creator of the content, contrary to the claims made by the presidential spokesperson.
He criticises Onanuga for not reaching out to them despite using their investigative video as the basis for the arrest, acknowledging that Dennis could be punished for spreading false news; the speaker insists he should not be charged with creating the video.
“My phone number is everywhere. Why didn’t you reach out to me? So, I’m not going to let it slide because again, Bayo Onanuga, the spokesperson to the president, you cannot just arrest people like that. Okay, he spread the video, but then you went out and posted that he made the video.”
The tech expert confirmed reaching out to Dennis’s mother and wife to coordinate his defense and clarify his role in the situation, and has already hired and paid lawyers to visit the DSS office in Abuja to confirm the arrest and facilitate Dennis’s bail.
