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AI-Generated images falsely show Osimhen, VeryDarkMan welcoming Tinubu in Turkey

Nurudeen Akewushola
Nurudeen Akewushola
Reading Time: 2 min.
screenshot of the viral post

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A set of images circulating on social media claims to show Super Eagles striker Victor Osimhen and social media activist VeryDarkMan (Martins Vincent Otse) welcoming President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and First Lady Oluremi Tinubu in Turkey.

An X user, @RazakMakinde, posted the images on May 13, 2026, with the caption: “Nigeria keeps winning globally! A beautiful moment as Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his wife share a peaceful moment in Turkey while the world celebrates Victor Osimhen for making Nigeria proud once again.”

As of the time of this report, the post had generated over 70 reposts and more than 700 likes.

CLAIM

The images show Victor Osimhen and VeryDarkMan welcoming President Tinubu and the First Lady in Turkey.

screenshot of the viral post

FINDINGS

Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is FALSE.

The claim appears to have emerged amid celebrations over Victor Osimhen’s recent success with Galatasaray, after the Nigerian striker inspired the Turkish club to win the 2025/2026 Turkish Super Lig title, further boosting his profile in Turkey and among Nigerian football fans.

An AI analysis of the images using Is it AI, an AI detection tool, shows strong indications that the visuals were artificially generated. The FactCheckHub ran the three images on the tool, and the result showed they are 99.9% AI-generated.

Result from AI detection tool

A look at the pictures shows that the image generator couldn’t generate the face of the president’s wife correctly.

One of the three pictures where the face of the President’s wife shows inconsistency

Further checks show the viral claim appears to combine separate real events involving the individuals mentioned to create a false narrative.

While VeryDarkMan was indeed in Istanbul, according to multiple videos seen online, such as here and here, there is no evidence placing Tinubu at the same location.

Contrary to the viral claim, Tinubu was not in Turkey on May 13 when the post was made. On that date, he was in Nairobi, Kenya, where he addressed the Africa Forward Summit and called for reforms to the global financial system.

Additionally, there is no authentic photo, video, or official report showing Tinubu, Osimhen, and VeryDarkMan together in Turkey at any point.

VERDICT

The claim that the images show Osimhen and VeryDarkMan welcoming Tinubu and the First Lady in Turkey is FALSE. The images were AI-generated and appear to combine unrelated events. While Osimhen and VeryDarkMan were linked to recent activities in Turkey, Tinubu was in Kenya, not Turkey, when the claim circulated.

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Nurudeen Akewushola is a fact-checker with FactCheckHub. He has authored several fact checks which have contributed to the fight against information disorder. You can reach him via nyahaya@icirnigeria.org and @NurudeenAkewus1 via Twitter.

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