Image showing Nigeria's ex-president Goodluck Jonathan shaking hands with Donald Trump is AI-generated

A Facebook post published on June 11, 2025, features a screenshot from an Instagram account named “goodluck_ebelejonathan” with a picture that appears to show Jonathan shaking hands with Trump.

The text in the Instagram screenshot reads: “Since our current leaders are pretending to sleep, we pray that we will get our good leadership back in 2027; your choice will determine the betterment of our future."

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Screenshot of the false Facebook post, taken on July 8, 2025.

The verified Instagram account, named “goodluck_ebelejonathan”, typically posts photos of dignitaries visiting the former president and videos of people expressing support for his political career. While the post seen in the screenshot was deleted, a duplicate remained visible on the linked Threads account by the same name. 

The image has also been shared in other posts on X, Facebook, and Instagram.

Some posts also include a short video clip showing the same scene.

Several local media outlets picked up the Instagram post and reported it as genuine, as seen here and here.

Goodluck Jonathan was Nigeria’s president between 2010 and 2015. He conceded defeat to Muhammadu Buhari in the 2015 election (archived here).

He is still eligible to contest for office, having served only one term.

However, the photo and video showing Jonathan shaking hands with Trump were generated using artificial intelligence, and the post attributed to the former Nigerian president did not come from official sources.

AI-generated images

In the purported video from the meeting, Jonathan's fingers disappear upon shaking hands with Trump, a sign that the video was created using artificial intelligence.

The video also contains other errors common with AI-generated content, including cartoonish faces and blurred faces in the background.

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Errors spotted in the video, including disappearing hands (circled in red), cartoonish faces (circled in yellow) and a blurred face in the background (circled in green)

The still image shared on social media corresponds to the first frame of this AI-generated video. 

There were also no news reports of a meeting between the two politicians in either local or international media.

The White House did not announce any meeting nor did photo archives from the White House contain any pictures of Trump receiving Jonathan at the Oval Office (archived here). 

Furthermore, Ikechukwu Eze, Jonathan's spokesperson, told AFP Fact Check that the account that posted the image did not belong to Nigeria’s ex-president.

“The former president does not have an Instagram account,” Eze said.