The Nigerian president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has come under heavy criticism for posting what critics now alleged was an AI-generated picture of his ‘meeting’ with his Rwandan counterpart.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Sunday disclosed that he held a private lunch with his Rwandan counterpart, President Paul Kagame, in Paris, France, where both leaders discussed global affairs and Africa’s place in a changing world.
In a post shared on his verified X handle, @officialABAT, President Tinubu said the meeting focused on positioning Africa within the evolving global landscape.
“This afternoon, I had a private lunch with H. E. President Paul Kagame of Rwanda to discuss the current state of world affairs and advancing Africa in an ever-changing global landscape,” the President wrote.
The meeting came days after Tinubu departed Lagos for Europe on Sunday, December 28, 2025. His spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, had earlier confirmed in a statement that the President travelled to Europe to continue his end-of-year break.
However, shortly after the post was shared, attention shifted from the substance of the meeting to the image attached to it. Netizens quickly spotted what appeared to be a Grok AI watermark on the photograph, triggering widespread reactions and questions about the authenticity of the image.
The image subsequently began trending on X, with many users openly questioning whether the meeting actually took place.
One user, Baby yoo, reacted angrily, writing, “Mr President, please sack whoever generated this picture for you to post publicly with the GROK watermark showing. Sack your photographer too. Sack whoever approved this post. Sack your media team too.”
Another user, Amanda chinda, wrote, “Nigeria don enter the era of ‘it happened, but did it really happen?’”
Ivina also expressed doubt, saying, “is Kagame aware he had this meeting. If he was he would have at least posted on his own X page. Something is fishy”.
Similarly, Mr Gerald asked, “Grok generated image? Is Kagame aware he had this meeting?”
Mr Czar added, “Why is there a grok logo at the bottom right of this image”.
Ademola also questioned the development, stating, “AI generated image ? What is even real in this administration at this point ‘cos if handler can’t even know you cannot use an AI generated image for a presidential official presentation like this, omo smh!”
However, in a statement issued on Monday, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, said the “picture is real and not AI generated as claimed”.
“Both President Kagame and President Tinubu met in Paris and had lunch together on Sunday. They two leaders later had dinner with President Macron the same yesterday evening. The picture was taken with a phone and obviously had poor quality,” Ajayi stated, and went on to admit that the photographer “used grok to improve the picture quality”.