Debunked: Viral Image of Nigerian Officials Cutting Ribbon At TICAD 9 Booth Is Manipulated

BY: Mustapha Lawal

Claim

A trending image on social media shows Nigerian officials cutting a ribbon at the “AL28 NIGERIA” booth during the ongoing Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 9) in Japan. The photo was widely circulated with captions suggesting that the Nigerian government belatedly opened its booth after earlier criticism that it was abandoned and unmanned.

Verdict: 

False! The image has been digitally manipulated.

Background

Nigeria’s participation at TICAD 9 in Yokohama, Japan, has been under scrutiny since August 20, 2025, when images and videos surfaced online showing an empty booth labelled “AL28 NIGERIA”. The posts, including one from Nigerian-American entrepreneur Idris Bello, suggested that, unlike other African countries, Nigeria’s space was deserted and unstaffed. The claim sparked heated debate on social media, with many users citing it as evidence of government negligence in promoting Nigeria’s interests on an international stage.

In response, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs dismissed the viral posts, clarifying that Nigeria did not attend TICAD to run a trade exhibition but to focus on high-level investment discussions and bilateral meetings. The Presidency also insisted that the booth was never officially inaugurated.

Days later, however, a new image surfaced showing four supposed Nigerian officials cutting a ceremonial ribbon at the booth. This photo, circulated by multiple accounts including @OmegaXDreams, @occp1967 and others, reignited the controversy, with critics accusing the government of belatedly opening the booth “for optics” while ordinary Nigerians struggled with economic hardship.

Verification

FactCheckAfrica ran the viral image through multiple free, publicly available AI-image detection tools. Interestingly, most of these tools failed to identify any manipulation, returning results that suggested the photo was likely authentic. 

This limitation highlights a growing challenge in fact-checking: many open-source detectors are unreliable when images are edited with advanced inpainting techniques rather than fully AI-generated from scratch.

To further investigate, FactCheckAfrica reached out to WITNESS’s Deepfakes Rapid Response Force, an international network of experts focused on verifying suspected synthetic and manipulated media. Alongside WITNESS, three independent forensics teams examined the image, comparing it against verified photos from the event, including TheCable’s coverage and official Facebook photo galleries.

The first team identified strong signs of inpainting-based manipulation, particularly around the leftmost figure, where transition edges and blockiness revealed patch-based editing rather than camera compression. Lighting and shadows on the table were also inconsistent with the scene.

Team 1 Analysis of the Image

Results: Image Manipulation via inpainting

Process: The team ran the image through their detection tool and identified a number of areas that are highly consistent with inpainting-based image manipulation. 

The inpainting mask edge was picked up by the tool as a highly inconsistent transition on the left side of the leftmost person

Sharp lines and blockiness that are indicative of a patch-based image editor rather than compression artefacts

The tool also called out the editing in the table, where, given the position of the lighting, it was expecting to see more consistent shadows 

The second team used face-analysis models, which flagged a high probability of manipulation across all four visible faces. Though the tool was primarily designed for detecting synthetic faces, analysts also observed unnatural hand shapes and blending issues with the background.

The third team applied forensic algorithms across different copies of the suspect image, finding manipulation scores between 68%–97%, compared to 15%–57% in genuine event photos. This sharp discrepancy further supported the conclusion of tampering.

Notably, no accredited press photographs or TICAD 9 official records show any Nigerian delegation holding such a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Available verified images confirm the booth remained largely bare, consistent with the Ministry’s statement that Nigeria’s strategy at TICAD was centred on bilateral and investment talks rather than trade exposition.

• See the attached PDF file with the snapshots analysed along with the detection scores: nigeria_expo.pdf

Conclusion

The viral image showing Nigerian officials cutting the ribbon of the “AL28 NIGERIA” booth at TICAD 9 in Japan is manipulated. While several widely used AI-detection tools failed to flag the edits, deeper forensic analysis by FactCheckAfrica, WITNESS’s Deepfakes Rapid Response Force, and other independent experts provides compelling evidence of tampering. Although Nigeria’s empty booth at the conference drew criticism, the ribbon-cutting photo is not authentic and does not represent an actual event.

Fact-Checker’s Note: This case illustrates a crucial lesson in the evolving misinformation landscape: free AI-detection tools are not always reliable, especially for images that are not fully AI-generated but edited using advanced techniques. Fact-checking manipulated visuals increasingly requires expert forensic collaboration, cross-checking with verified media, and transparency in methods. Readers should be cautious when relying solely on AI detectors as proof of authenticity.