Claim: Donald Trump makes critical remarks about Nigeria’s leaders, oil, and insecurity
Source: WhatsApp
Verdict: AI-generated
By Hamza Ibrahim
A 1-minute and 43-second video showing President of the United States of America, Donald Trump, speaking extensively about Nigerian national life has been widely shared on WhatsApp.
The video of President Trump, with the U.S. flag and the White House in the background, was originally shared on TikTok with 420,000 views before going viral on WhatsApp, which has been tagged as “Forwarded many times.”
The video is divided into four segments.
In the first segment, Trump is heard challenging Nigerians that the oil in their country does not belong to them; on the contrary, the oil belongs to the US:
“Nigerians, you should know that the oil wealth in Nigeria is not yours, it is ours,” he said.
President Trump also spoke about the widely contested fuel subsidies in Nigeria, and insinuated that the U.S.A. was responsible for the fuel subsidy but removed it: “We used to give you something called fuel subsidy, but now we have removed it.”
Elaborating further, he claims Nigerian leaders are merely guardians of U.S. wealth, and leaders are chosen at their discretion.
On Nigerian refineries, President Trump challenged Nigerians to ask themselves why their refineries aren’t working, adding that when Ali Dangote finishes his refinery, he will not sell any oil.
Trump also said, “If you stand up and get your freedom, stand up, if you don’t stand up, we will continue to take your wealth.”
“Don’t fool yourself, where are the Nigerian youth, what are you doing? Where are the Nigerian soldiers? What are you doing? You know we will never let you get together because if we leave, you won’t let us take your property. You ask yourself why there is a Boko Haram conflict”
Fact-check
FactSpace Nigeria, upon a careful examination of the video, classified it as AI-generated on two grounds.
- The audio is rigid in terms of tone, unlike how President Trump speaks. There are also parts where the pauses are irregular.
- President Trump, in the circulated video, failed to pronounce Aliko Dangote, and the subtitles also failed to give a proper spelling. This is a shortcoming of AI-generated audio in pronouncing and spelling names, especially unfamiliar names.
For instance, the screenshot below shows the AI’s inability to spell Aliko Dangote; instead, it referred to him as ‘ALICODONGO’.
FactSpace Nigeria also traced the source of the video to a TikTok account, BB Smart TV. We found that the account had three videos, with the Donald Trump version being the most viewed (over 421,000 times)
It had also attracted over 900 comments, with people stating doubts about the authenticity of the clip. When a user expressed such a reservation, “I don’t believe Trump is saying this, it looks like AI,” the account user agreed and said it was AI-generated, responding, “You are right.”
A search on all official social media handles of President Trump and the White House returned zero results.
A Google search on Trump’s comments on Nigeria returned zero results, and no credible media outlet locally or internationally had published anything to that effect.
FactSpace Nigeria has observed a trend where such videos of the US president making critical comments about the Nigerian president or government have been circulated.
Such AI-generated videos promote and heighten tension around the removal of fuel subsidies, Nigeria’s non-functioning refineries, its leaders, and other topical issues on insecurity.
Verdict
Therefore, the video is AI-generated.
