Pat Stevens/
Nigeria’s Presidency has called for legal action against social media influencer, Martins Vincent Otse, widely known as VeryDarkMan (VDM), over the circulation of an alleged fake audio purportedly linked to President Bola Tinubu.
The controversy erupted after a viral voice note surfaced online, with claims that it featured a Tinubu-like voice making critical remarks about the country’s condition and the 2023 election.
The audio, which spread rapidly across TikTok, X and WhatsApp, was reposted and discussed by VDM, triggering heated political reactions online.
Reacting on Wednesday, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, accused the activist of disseminating false information and abusing social media platforms.
“This VDM needs to face the weight of the law for being the conveyor and disseminator of a fake audio of President Tinubu. This is a clear case of an egregious abuse of the social media platform,” Onanuga wrote on X.
The presidential aide was responding to online claims questioning the authenticity of the recording, with supporters of the administration insisting the voice note was fabricated, possibly through artificial intelligence or voice cloning technology.
According to reports, the disputed audio allegedly suggested that Tinubu admitted asking opposition figure, Peter Obi, to step down during the 2023 election period and warned about Nigeria’s worsening economic and security situation.
The Presidency has not released any forensic analysis of the recording, but government supporters and several commentators have argued that the speech pattern in the clip does not resemble the President’s known speaking style.
The development has intensified concerns over misinformation, deepfakes and AI-generated political content ahead of Nigeria’s next election cycle.
As of the time of filing this report, VDM had not publicly responded to Onanuga’s demand for prosecution.
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