Presidency Denies AI Claims Over Tinubu–Kagame Paris Photograph

Presidency Denies AI Claims Over Tinubu–Kagame Paris Photograph

The Presidency has dismissed claims that a photograph showing President Bola Tinubu with Rwandan President Paul Kagame in Paris, France, was generated using artificial intelligence (AI), describing the allegations as false and misleading.

In a statement issued on Monday, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, said the controversy surrounding the image was based on a misrepresentation of facts and poor verification by critics and some media reports.

Ajayi confirmed that the photograph was authentic, explaining that President Tinubu and President Kagame indeed met in Paris on Sunday, where they shared lunch and later joined French President Emmanuel Macron for dinner the same evening.

“Both President Kagame and President Tinubu met in Paris and had lunch together on Sunday. The two leaders later had dinner with President Macron the same evening,” Ajayi stated.

He explained that the confusion arose because the original image was taken with a mobile phone and had low visual quality, which was later enhanced using Grok, an AI-powered image improvement tool developed by Elon Musk’s xAI.

“The picture was taken with a phone and obviously had poor quality. The photographer only later used Grok to improve the picture quality. That does not make it AI-generated,” the Presidency said.

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Ajayi criticised journalists and commentators who concluded otherwise without proper verification, stressing that basic fact-checking would have prevented the misinformation.

“The writer or editor should have asked questions before arriving at this wrong conclusion,” he added.

The controversy gained traction after the image, which carried a Grok watermark, was shared on X (formerly Twitter) via the President’s official handle on Sunday. Some users flagged it as artificially generated, prompting a Community Note suggesting the photo “appears to be AI-generated.”

In the post, President Tinubu said the private meeting with President Kagame focused on global developments and Africa’s future in a rapidly changing world.

“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,” Tinubu wrote.

The same image was also shared by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, who reiterated that the meeting took place in Paris on Sunday, January 4, 2026.

The incident has sparked wider debate over the use of AI-enhanced images in official government communications, particularly in diplomatic and foreign policy contexts.

President Tinubu has been in Europe since December 28, after departing Lagos for an end-of-year trip.

Presidency Denies AI Claims Over Tinubu–Kagame Paris Photograph