The Presidency has said a photograph showing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu with his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame, taken in Paris, France, was not generated using artificial intelligence.
Presidential spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, who released the photograph on Sunday said on Monday that the picture was taken when both leaders met in Paris.
Onanuga shared the image on his social media platforms, while the photo also appeared on the President’s official X handle.
The photo had a caption quoting Tinubu saying the meeting discussed global issues and Africa’s future.
“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.
Onanuga said “President Bola Tinubu at a private lunch in Paris with the President of the Republic of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, discussing world affairs and advancing Africa. Sunday, January 4, 2026.”
Controversy on social media—particularly on X— trailed the immediate release of the photo with some users saying it was an AI product.
But another presidential spokesperson, Temitope Ajayi, denied it, saying the reports and online commentary misrepresented facts.
Ajayi said the photograph was authentic, adding that both leaders met in Paris on Sunday.
“President Kagame and President Tinubu met in Paris and had lunch together on Sunday. The two leaders later had dinner with President Emmanuel Macron the same evening,” he said.
He said the confusion arose from post-production enhancement of the image, not from AI generation, adding that “the narrative that the picture of Presidents Bola Tinubu and Paul Kagame taken in Paris yesterday was AI-generated is not correct.
“The picture was taken with a phone and understandably had poor quality. The photographer only later used Grok to improve the picture quality. That is not a reason to conclude it was AI-generated.”
Ajayi further criticised the reports that fuelled the speculation, saying due diligence was lacking.
“The writer or editor should have asked questions before arriving at this wrong conclusion,” he added.
The Presidency said the meeting and the photograph were genuine, urging the public to disregard claims suggesting otherwise.
