Professional boxer Anthony Joshua was injured in a car crash during a trip to his hometown in southwest Nigeria in late December 2025. Two of his close friends died. Soon after, images claiming to show Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu visiting Joshua in the hospital circulated on social media. However, the claim is false; the images were digitally created using artificial intelligence (AI) tools. Tinubu was not in the country at the time.
“Breaking News Nigeria’s President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, paid a quiet visit to boxer Anthony Joshua at the hospital following his @ccident (sic),” reads part of a Facebook post published on December 30, 2025.
The post, which was shared more than 60 times, contains three photos of Tinubu, who appears to be sitting by Joshua’s hospital bed.
Screenshot of the false Facebook post, taken on January 19, 2026
Similar posts were shared elsewhere on Facebook and Instagram in both English and Yoruba.
Some of the posts also included videos of the purported visit.
AFP Fact Check debunked a similar claim in French.
Joshua was involved in a fatal accident on a highway linking Lagos and Ibadan in southwest Nigeria on December 29, 2025, resulting in the death of his friends, Latif Ayodele and Sina Ghami (archived here).
Joshua and his driver suffered minor injuries. The boxer was taken to a hospital in Lagos, where he stayed for two days before being discharged on December 31, 2025 (archived here).
The driver, identified as Adeniyi Mobolaji Kayode, faces multiple reckless driving charges and driving without a licence (archived here).
Joshua later returned to the UK, but he did not receive a visit from Tinubu at the hospital.
Tinubu abroad
Following the crash, public figures, including Tinubu, expressed sympathy for Joshua (archived here).
In a statement posted on X and also received by AFP, Tinubu said the boxer “assured me he is receiving the best possible care” (archived here).
“I spoke with AJ on the phone to personally offer my condolences following the death of his two colleagues. I wished him good luck and prayed for him,” reads the statement released on December 29, 2025.
The statement, signed by Tinubu’s spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, clarified that Tinubu was abroad at the time of the accident (archived here).
Tinubu left Nigeria on December 28, 2025, for Europe, and then attended the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week in the United Arab Emirates (archived here).
AI-generated images
A reverse image search found no evidence that the images were published on any official government social media accounts or by credible media outlets, an unlikely situation for what would have been a high-profile visit.
Further scrutiny of the images revealed several visual inconsistencies, typical of AI-generated content.
In the first image, the president appears to have four fingers, with a deformed thumb. In the second one, his hands are unnaturally intertwined, while the third shows Joshua with half fingers on one hand.
In all three photos, the medical machines seen in the background have no clear details on their screens.
Screenshot showing the inconsistencies including the four fingers on Tinubu’s hand (circled red), and the machines with no clear details (circled yellow)
These anomalies are even more pronounced in the video, where Joshua appears to have three hands as he moves to hug Tinubu.
Screenshot of the video showing Joshua with three hands (circled red) while hugging Tinubu, taken on January 20, 2025
Analysis of the images using Hive Moderation, an AI detection tool, found a probability of 82-92 percent that they were artificially created.
Screenshot of the image analysis result by Hive Moderation taken on January 13, 2025
Temitope Ajayi, Tinubu’s assistant for public relations, confirmed to AFP Fact Check that the images are“fake”.
“These AI-generated images illustrate once again the sinister uses that can be made of any technology,” Ajayi said.
He also warned that as Nigeria approaches the next election year, “the public must be prepared to distinguish between what is real and what is fake”, adding that he expects to see “numerous” AI-manipulated images or voices of the president and other political figures surface in 2026.
Meanwhile, Joshua has resumed training, although his promoter, Eddie Hearn, said it will take some time before he returns to the ring (archived here).
Initial findings into the incident suggest that their vehicle was speeding and suffered a burst tyre before the crash. The driver’s next court hearing is scheduled for February 25, 2026 (archived here).
AFP Fact Check debunked another claim related to the crash.