Lawyer asks presidency to sanction Onanuga for linking fake Tinubu audio to VDM

Activist lawyer Marshal Abubakar has asked the Presidency to sanction the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, over remarks linking social media activist Martins Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan (VDM), to an alleged fake audio of President Bola Tinubu.

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In a statement shared with PREMIUM TIMES on Friday, Mr Abubakar accused the presidential aide of spreading falsehood and making inflammatory comments in a post published on X on 27 May, describing the action as an embarrassment to the government.

The lawyer said Mr Onanuga “must face the consequences of circulating and authenticating falsehood, spread through electronic means against the very government and people he was employed to defend”.
The controversy began after VDM shared a viral audio clip purportedly featuring Mr Tinubu making remarks about insecurity in the South-east, World Bank loans and portraying his second term election as a done deal.

Reacting to the development on Wednesday, Mr Onanuga described the recording as fake and warned that the social media influencer could face legal action.

“This VDM needs to face the weight of the law for being the conveyor and disseminator of a fake audio of President Tinubu. This is a clear case of an egregious abuse of the social media platform,” Mr Onanuga wrote on his verified X account.

The presidential aide said the circulation of manipulated digital content could mislead the public and undermine trust in public institutions.

VDM had reacted through a law firm, Deji Adeyanju & Partners, to Mr Onanuga’s claim, criticising the Presidency for making damaging claims against him without first verifying the facts.

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The social media influencer said through his lawyers that a simple “verification of our client’s verified social media platforms would have confirmed that he neither made nor shared the said audio.”

The statement said Mr Onanuga’s rush to link VDM to the fake video confirmed that influential government officials were desperate to silence and discredit him for criticising the government.

Mr Abubakar struck a similar tone on Friday, but further framed Mr Onanuga’s remarks as an attack on right to freedom of expression.

“Despite his rich pro-democracy credentials as a former NADECO leader, it is sad to see Mr Bayo Onanuga evolve from being a fearless challenger of tyrannical military dictators to a pathetic defender of one of the worst governments in the country’s history.

“Now that the inaccuracy and falsity of Mr Bayo’s allegations has been established, we submit without any sense of equivocation that the right of Nigerians to criticise, condemn, challenge any obnoxious government policy, and the right to demand for a change of government; including the right to assert that, which Mr Bayo and his paymasters find offensive and discomforting must be re-asserted and commitment to its protection re-affirmed by the Presidency he has sheepishly embarrassed with his provocative assault against our collective national interest.”

He described as “disheartening” that a man “who risked detention, exile, and death to confront tyranny”, that also “once indicted power and corruption now defends it officially, dutifully and without compromise.”

He added that “the man who once indicted power now propagates its abuse in its cruelest form.”
He accused Mr Onanuga of attempting to intimidate critics of the Tinubu administration and argued that Nigerians had a constitutional right to criticise government policies and demand political change.

He demanded, among others, that “the Presidency must distance itself from the embarrassing declarations of Mr Bayo Onanuga and mete out the appropriate sanction against a state official that deliberately misinformed the public and caused the government gargantuan embarrassment.”

Mr Abubakar, who also emphasised that VDM reserved the right “to seek appropriate civil redress”, cited the 1999 English case of Redmond-Bate v DPP, Mr Abubakar said freedom of expression protects even speech considered provocative or offensive, provided it does not incite violence.

The lawyer also referenced Nigerian court decisions, including IGP v ANPP and Arthur Nwankwo v The State, which he said affirmed citizens’ rights to free expression and peaceful dissent.

Mr Abubakar further alleged that some previous comments by Mr Onanuga, including a 2023 statement warning against “Igbo interference in Lagos politics,” were divisive and potentially in breach of provisions of the Cybercrimes Act.

He asked the Presidency to publicly distance itself from the presidential aide’s remarks and impose appropriate sanctions.

The lawyer also argued that the comments under review could fall within Sections 24 and 26 of the Cybercrimes Act, which deal with false electronic communication and xenophobic expressions.

The controversy comes amid growing concerns over the spread of AI-generated misinformation and digitally manipulated political content in Nigeria. Earlier, the federal government warned against the circulation of fake audio and video materials created with artificial intelligence tools to mislead the public.

Mr Abubakar said his client reserves the right to seek civil redress over the matter.

Mr Onanuga and the Presidency had yet to respond to the latest allegations as of the time of filing this report.

The controversial video

The back-and-forth started after VDM was accused of sharing a video in which he played a purported audio recording of President Tinubu discussing Nigeria’s political situation, insecurity, and his determination to win his second term election next year.

READ ALSO: Presidency calls for VDM’s prosecution over alleged Tinubu’s voice notes

The video started with VDM saying, “After this audio that I am about to play, I would ask if they cooked Nigerians who will support Tinubu in 2027, or you guys are okay.”

In audio, a voice portrayed to be Mr Tinubu’s said, “They have been trying to take me out of the position, but it’s not possible, mind you, I am winning this election, I do not care whatever is happening, Nigerians deserve it.”

It added, “Because when I was running as a President, they did not want me, now all of a sudden they want me to rescue them from insecurity.”

The purpported speaker depicted as Tinubu, said he called Peter Obi to stepp down from the presidential race for him, “but he refused.”

“I am not begging him again.” the voice said, adding, “I will make sure the insecurity affects the people in the South-east.”

The voice attributed to Mr Tinubu also expressed resolve to continue to amass foreign loans.

“Listen, I am going to borrow more and more money from the World Bank, I won’t like to stop this insecurity because if I do, how will our party be able to win elections? Think about it, even the loans I am taking is to fund them.”

VDM distanced himself from the video and his lawyers have called on security agencies to investigate its source.