AI image of Nigerians taking rifles to church spreads online after recent attacks
- Published on December 18, 2025 at 15:02
- 3 min read
- By Oluseyi AWOJULUGBE, AFP Nigeria
After a church was attacked by gunmen in Nigeria, a photo shared on social media claims to show worshippers attending a church service armed with rifles. However, the photo contains visual inconsistencies -- a sign that it was generated using artificial intelligence. Google’s SynthID detector also identified the image as generated using the company’s AI tools.
A photo published on X on November 23 and shared over 3,000 times since shows a woman standing in front of a church and carrying a rifle. In the crowd behind her, some congregants carry Bibles, while others also carry rifles.
“Happy Sunday from church in Kwara, guide yourself..... No wait for security (sic),” the caption reads.
The image has also appeared in similar posts on Facebook and on Instagram.
Nigeria’s northeastern region is at the epicentre of a Boko Haram jihadist insurgency, which, according to the United Nations, has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced more than two million since 2009 (archived here).
Kwara, a state in Nigeria’s north-central region, was recently in the spotlight after a livestream captured the moment armed men attacked a church during a service and kidnapped worshippers on November 19 (archived here).
A few days later, on November 22, more than 300 children and staff were kidnapped from a Catholic school in Niger state (archived here). A hundred of the captives were later released.
In the aftermath of these attacks, lawmakers have supported a proposal to broaden civilian gun ownership in the country (archived here).
In late October, US President Donald Trump announced that he was naming Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) -- a State Department designation for nations accused of religious freedom violations -- for the killing of Christians by “radical Islamists” (archived here).
However, the photo does not show churchgoers holding rifles.
AI-generated image
By closely examining the image, AFP Fact Check spotted multiple visual inconsistencies indicative of AI-generated content.
For instance, the main walls of the church are at a different angle than the columns on its portico.
The main subject also appears to have six fingers on one hand; five are visible, and given the way she is holding the rifle, her thumb -- the sixth finger -- should be hidden behind the firearm. Some of her fingers also appear misshapen.
Moreover, there is an extra strap on her rifle that goes over her shoulder but then disappears rather than going around her body.
To her left, a man wearing a purple outfit appears to be holding a red book with a misshapen hand.
Behind her, a strapless rifle appears to be floating in the air on the side of a man wearing a grey suit. Further back to his right, two men dressed in white appear to overlap, with one man’s face seemingly merging into the other’s shoulder.
Further scrutiny also shows random pieces of clothing that do not match any of the outfits worn by the people in the image.
Google's SynthID Detector, a tool that identifies content generated by the company’s own AI tools, detected digital watermarks indicating the image was created with Google AI (archived here).
InVID-WeVerify’s synthetic image detection tool also returned a 95% probability that the image was AI-generated.
AFP Fact Check has previously debunked other claims related to insecurity in Nigeria, including that customs officials supplied food to bandits.
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