As Nigeria enters another election cycle spearheaded by a familiar trio of presidential candidates, fake newspaper front pages circulating on social media are muddying the waters with false claims of free housing, weekly food rations and higher petrol prices. This time around, artificial intelligence (AI) is helping these election hoaxes to proliferate.
The country's presidential election is slated for January 16, 2027, with incumbent President Bola Tinubu, former vice president Atiku Abubakar, and Peter Obi, leader of the youth-backed "Obidient Movement", among the leading contenders.
Campaigns officially began on August 19, 2026, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) election timetable, with candidates courting voters across different platforms (archived here).
Politicians' comments and activities are dominating conversations online, and increasingly, so is disinformation.
A recurring tactic seen in past election cycles is the circulation of fabricated newspaper front pages, including several mimicking the Nigerian Tribune, published by African Newspapers of Nigeria Plc.
However, all these pages have been generated with AI tools.
One image published on X purports to show the front page of "The Daily Tribune" newspaper.
"Atiku: No Nigerian will pay house rent when I become President," reads the headline.
Shared more than 500 times, the page features a photo of Abubakar as the main image.
The image was shared on Facebook and Instagram, and by Lere Olayinka, the spokesman for Nyesom Wike, the minister of the capital, Abuja.
Rent has doubled in Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital, and in other parts of the country amid a cost-of-living crisis triggered by the government's economic reforms, including the removal of a fuel subsidy and the devaluation of the naira (archived here).
While Abubakar has blamed the Tinubu administration for the crisis, the 76-year-old politician has not made any promises related to rent and housing (archived here).
The front page with Abubakar's purported comments is dated September 1, 2026. The newspaper, however, does not exist in Nigeria, but vaguely resembles the Nigerian Tribune, with its red masthead.
AFP Fact Check found the September 1 edition of the Nigerian Tribune on the newspaper's verified Facebook page (archived here).
The genuine front page is entirely different from the fabricated version, including headline, image, font and layout.
There are also differences in the edition number and price. The fake page is labelled "VOL 75. NO. 0231" and priced at 250 naira, while the real edition reads "VOL 76. NO 0206" and costs 300 naira.
Notably, the byline on the lead story on the fake page belongs to Levinus Nwabughiogu, a journalist who left the Vanguard Newspaper to become the chief press secretary to Benjamin Kalu, the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives (archived here).
Additionally, the social media accounts listed at the bottom of the fake front page do not correspond to those of the Nigerian Tribune.
The real " Daily Tribune" account on Facebook belongs to a Filipino media organisation with over 2.4 million followers (archived here).
Abdul Rasheeth, one of Abubakar's media aides, responded to the false post on September 2, 2026, describing the page as a fabrication (archived here).
"This claim is entirely false and does not reflect the views or policy position of His Excellency," he wrote. "We urge the public to disregard the misinformation and rely solely on statements issued through his official communication channels."
Image analysis using the OpenAI detection tool also confirmed that the page is AI-generated.
"Tinubu: Petrol price will sell for N5,000 per liter starting May 29, 2027," reads the headline of a second front page shared on X and Facebook.
Although some commenters point out that the image is AI-generated, others appear to believe that it is authentic.
"With the bad roads everywhere, we will still be buying fuel N5,000," one user wrote on X.
"If he did it from 180.naira then anything is possible. I believe we will get it right inshaAllah ( sic)," another user wrote on Facebook.
The Nigerian government used to subsidise petrol prices, but Tinubu announced the end of the subsidy at his inauguration in May 2023 (archived here).
The decision, coupled with the commencement of operations at the Dangote Refinery, drove petrol prices up from 190 naira ($0.4) in April 2023 to over 1,250 naira (about $0.94) by the end of August 2026 (archived here). But Tinubu has not announced even higher fuel prices if reelected.
The page style resembles the first fake and also bears inconsistencies typical of AI visuals.
Firstly, the date reads May 27, 2027, despite the image being published in 2026.
Secondly, a secondary headline is grammatically incorrect, reading: "Anyone caught walking or driving without an active tax receip years imprisonment ( sic)."
Thirdly, the second paragraph of the article attributes the purported quote to Abubakar, although the headline credits the statement to Tinubu.
Lastly, pictured in the CBN headline in the bottom left corner is Godwin Emefiele, former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, rather than the current governor, Olayemi Cardoso.
Google's SynthID detector, which detects content made with the company's AI software, confirmed the page was an AI fabrication (archived here).
AFP Fact Check found two versions of another purported front page published on Facebook under different mastheads, one being the "Daily News", another newspaper that does not exist in Nigeria.
"Atiku: I will give every Nigerian one bag of rice weekly when I become president," reads the headline on both pages, alongside the same photo of Abubakar.
Abubakar recently criticised the Tinubu administration's social interventions, including a 25,000 naira (about $19) cash transfer to vulnerable households (archived here). However, he has not pledged to introduce food rations as alleged.
Like the other fakes, both pages bear hallmarks of AI-generated content.
For instance, despite carrying different names and dates, both versions share an identical byline and body text, with similar stories highlighted in the bottom column.
The social media handles listed at the bottom of both pages also match, an unlikely coincidence for two supposedly different dailies.
Such inconsistencies, where text and visual details don't quite add up, are common in AI visuals.
Analysis of the two images using the OpenAI detection tool also confirmed that they were created with OpenAI tools.
The Nigerian Tribune issued disclaimers on its verified Facebook and X accounts, labelling some of the pages as fake (archived here and here).
AFP Fact Check has debunked other 2027 election-related claims in Nigeria, including quotes falsely attributed to politicians and an old US Senate report presented as evidence of a new corruption investigation against Abubakar.