The arrest was disclosed on Thursday by presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga through a post on X.
“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,” he said.
The development brings to an end days of controversy that erupted after a manipulated video surfaced online on May 27, 2026. The video featured social media activist Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan, alongside an AI-generated voice that mimicked President Tinubu.
In the altered recording, the fake voice was heard making controversial claims, including allegations that insecurity in Nigeria’s South-East was intentional, that opposition figure Peter Obi had been pressured to withdraw from the 2023 presidential election, and that the President was unconcerned about the hardship facing Nigerians.
Subsequent investigations by several media organisations found that VeryDarkMan was not responsible for publishing the fabricated audio. Findings showed that an unknown individual had taken footage from one of his original Instagram videos and inserted the AI-generated voice before sharing the manipulated version across social media platforms.
Before those findings emerged, the Presidency had called for action against VeryDarkMan over the viral clip.
Reacting at the time, Onanuga described the incident as “a clear case of egregious abuse of the social media platform,” a position that later attracted criticism after fact-checkers established that the activist’s original video did not contain the fake audio.
As of the time of filing this report, authorities had yet to disclose further details regarding the circumstances surrounding Dennis’s arrest or the specific charges that may be brought against him.