Nigeria is confronting a new form of misinformation in which artificial intelligence can generate fabricated speeches and videos convincing enough to appear genuinely from senior public officials. The issue became more visible after a video attributed to a senior Nigerian military official circulated online and was later identified as manipulated.
The shift matters because older fake political content usually carried visible tells — poor editing, wrong logos, distorted audio. AI-generated material can reproduce a person's appearance, voice, and speaking style convincingly enough to persuade viewers who encounter it without context, removing many of the old warning signs entirely.
The risk is amplified in Nigeria specifically because platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, and TikTok let information spread through private networks where corrections often never reach everyone who saw the original false claim.
President Tinubu recently warned political actors about misinformation ahead of Nigeria's 2027 election cycle, saying his party rejects “misinformation — including through artificial intelligence — and all forms of incitement, especially via social media.” The concern extends well beyond politics, since AI-generated misinformation can just as easily target the military, government policy, financial markets, or public emergencies.