President Bola Tinubu has come under intense public scrutiny following revelations that an image he shared, depicting a private lunch with Rwandan President Paul Kagame in Paris on 4 January 2026, was generated using artificial intelligence.
The photographs, which circulated widely on social media on Sunday, carried a visible watermark from Grok, a generative AI chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI.
The discovery has raised questions about the authenticity of the visuals released in connection with the reported meeting.
According to reports, details of the meeting were first made public by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, who announced it via a Facebook post.
According to Onanuga, President Tinubu and President Kagame held a private lunch in the French capital, where they discussed global affairs, Africa’s position in the evolving international order, and their shared vision for the continent’s development.
President Tinubu later echoed the claim in a post on X (formerly Twitter), stating, “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,” while attaching the disputed image.
The image was also reposted by the President’s Special Assistant on New Media, Dada Olusegun, further amplifying its circulation.
Many Nigerians on social media described the incident as a “national embarrassment,” with calls for greater transparency and accountability in official communications.
