Bayo Onanuga confirms arrest of mastermind behind AI-generated Tinubu voice notes

Bayo Onanuga, the special adviser to President Bola Tinubu on information and strategy, has confirmed the arrest of the creator behind the viral AI-generated voice notes of the president.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that Mr Onanuga, in an X post, alleged that activist Martins “VeryDarkMan (VDM)” Otse created the voice notes.

He subsequently called for VDM’s prosecution and accused him of spreading fake voice notes linked to the president.

However, criticism mounted against Mr Onanuga after investigators established that VDM didn’t create the voice notes attributed to Mr Tinubu.

This newspaper fact-checked the voice notes and found that an unknown person had manipulated them.

This newspaper further found out that the voice notes didn’t originate from VDM’s original video.

Arrest

Nine days later, Mr Onanuga, in a statement on his social media pages on Thursday, named one Ifechukwu Dennis as the creator of the voice notes.

He stated that the authorities had arrested Mr Dennis in Benin, Edo State.

Mr Onanuga described the development as part of ongoing efforts to curb misinformation and politically motivated disinformation.

Mr Onanuga wrote: “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.

“Dennis was arrested in Benin. The police will issue an official statement.”

Backstory

This newspaper reported that AI-generated voice notes falsely attributed to Mr Tinubu claimed that he deliberately allowed insecurity to persist in parts of the country for political reasons.

The altered audio also falsely claimed that the president asked former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi to step down in his favour ahead of the forthcoming presidential election.

In the voice notes, the person threatened to worsen insecurity in the South-east.