Social media users have been sharing fabricated letters allegedly written by Nigerian President Bola Tinubu to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and US President Donald Trump. The letters claim Tinubu pleaded with them to stop the release of files linking him to historical drug investigations and the deaths of Moshood Abiola and Sani Abacha. The letters have been widely shared on social media platforms, including Facebook and X.
A US transparency activist, Aaron Greenspan, initiated a lawsuit against six federal agencies, including the FBI and CIA, to obtain records from the late 1980s and early 1990s that mention President Tinubu. The lawsuit has sparked public interest, with many Nigerians expressing concern over the potential release of the files. However, DUBAWA, a fact-checking organization, has discovered that the letters are fabricated.
DUBAWA conducted a thorough investigation, including keyword searches across Google, the Nigerian presidency's verified social media handle, and national news archives. The search found no evidence that President Tinubu transmitted such letters to the UN or US government. The organization also manually reviewed the letters and found discrepancies in design and formatting.
The letters feature an unofficial emblem that consists of Tinubu's portrait, the national coat of arms, and bold typography, which is different from the official letterhead and stationery used for State House correspondence. Furthermore, the signature appended to the letters does not match Tinubu's official signature appended to presidential messages.
DUBAWA subjected both letters to digital forensic analysis using the InVID-WeVerify verification tool. The tool identified evidence indicating that the letter to the UN Secretary-General was synthetic, with 88% of the letter found to be AI-generated. The letter addressed to the US President was also flagged as probably AI-generated by an AI detector for text and image forensics.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Public Enlightenment, Abdulaziz Abdulaziz, dismissed the letters as fake, stating that the first wrong indicator is the letterhead. He urged the public to disregard the letters. President Tinubu's legal counsel has submitted legal arguments concerning statutory exemptions, not through personal letters to foreign offices.
In conclusion, the claim that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu wrote letters to the UN Secretary-General and the US President pleading against the release of FBI files is false. The public should be cautious of misinformation on social media and verify information through reputable sources.
Key points
- The letters were flagged as AI-generated by digital forensic analysis tools.
- The Nigerian presidency has denied the authenticity of the letters.
- The lawsuit against US federal agencies was initiated by a US transparency activist, Aaron Greenspan.
