An audio conversation reportedly between Peter Obi, the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate in the 2023 presidential election, and David Oyedepo, the founder of the Living Faith Church or Winners Chapel, has surfaced online.
In the viral audio, both men can be heard discussing ahead of the February 25 presidential election about the Christian voting community in Nigeria’s southwest and north-central regions, and how to get them to support Obi.
Obi can be heard saying, “It is a religious war,” to which Oyedepo replies, “I believe that.”The story was first published on Saturday evening, and the audio was shared in MP4 format afterwards.
Following its publication, several social media users said it was a deepfake and the voices were AI generated.
CLAIM: Viral audio clip between Obi and Oyedepo is a deepfake.
VERIFICATION: FIJ subjected the audio to a deepfake test using Deepware, an AI tool used to detect alterations in audios and videos.
According to Deepware, the audio was not AI generated, and it underwent no technological alterations.
Although FIJ was able to establish that no AI was used in generating the voices or modifying the audio, the newspaper, as of press time, was unable to reach both men for comments on whether they indeed engaged in the conversation or people with similar voices to theirs did.
VERDICT: The audio is not a deepfake.