Claim: Images circulating on social media claim that President Tinubu paid a hospital visit to Anthony Joshua. Verdict: False Full Text An image depicting President Tinubu’s visit to Anthony Joshua in the hospital has recently been widely shared on the internet. On December 30, 2025, NDRFactcheck noted circulating images showing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu visiting
Claim:
Images circulating on social media claim that President Tinubu paid a hospital visit to Anthony Joshua.
Verdict: False
Full Text
An image depicting President Tinubu’s visit to Anthony Joshua in the hospital has recently been widely shared on the internet.
On December 30, 2025, NDRFactcheck noted circulating images showing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu visiting Anthony Joshua in the hospital.
According to a post by Rant HQ, a Facebook page reads, “President Tinubu Visits Anthony Joshua in Hospital. My Fellow Patriotic Nigerians, Let’s wish him Quick Recovery. 🙏 #anthonyjoshamustlive #quicjrecovery
#trendingnews”
Screenshot of the pictures
Anthony Joshua, a British-Nigerian boxer, is a former undefeated heavyweight champion who defended his title three times and held both IBF and WBO world titles. He also won a gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics.
Anthony Joshua, who is from Sagamu, Ogun State, was involved in a road accident on the 29th December 2025, around Makun, Ogun State, along the Lagos-Ibadan motorway, where his vehicle ran into a stationary truck parked along the motorway, resulting in the death of two people who were travelling with him in the vehicle.
Due to his status and personality, several individuals have come out to sympathise and commiserate with him, and the government of Ogun State issued a statement that he has been moved to a specialised medical facility in Lagos.
President Tinubu was one of the earliest people to speak with Anthony Joshua, wishing him a quick recovery and commiserating with him on the death of his friends and associates. He was also reported to have spoken with his mother and prayed for her.
President Tinubu is officially out of the country, and he is not expected back until sometime in January 2026.
It was therefore curious to find images of the President by the bedside of Anthony Joshua in the hospital. NDRFactcheck came across a post claiming that President Bola Tinubu has gone to pay him a visit at the facility, here, here, here and a video.
This image has caused a lot of reaction, with 45 comments, where some believe it is artificially intelligence-generated, and the NDRFactcheck decided to verify the image.
Some of the reactions here.
Verification
NDRFactcheck visited the President’s official X handles, where information is disseminated. We found nothing but just a message from President Tinubu saying he has spoken with AJ personally, conveying his condolences over the passing of his two close associates, Kevin Latif Ayodele and Sina Ghami, in the recent accident. wishing him a full and speedy recovery, and prayed with him.
Gathered also from verified media outlets in Nigeria, it was reported that the President’s message he dropped on his X handle was the only thing reported. Here, here and here.
Subjecting the images to AI image detector analysis using Hive Moderation revealed that it was likely to contain AI-generated or deepfake content; it gave a 98.3% probability that the image was AI-generated.
Conclusion
After gathering information and consulting reputable Nigerian media platforms as well as artificial intelligence image detectors, it was determined that the images were not genuine.
