By Pascal Ibe
Introduction
The death of the Nigerian legendary actor, Olu Jacobs, has thrown the Nollywood industry and many Nigerians into a state of mourning over the past week.
The veteran Nigerian actor Oludotun Baiyewun Jacobs, popularly known as Olu Jacobs, has died at the age of 84.
His family announced his death on Instagram on Wednesday, 16 September, saying the actor died after a life they described as well-lived and fought.
According to the family announcement, Jacobs was born on July 11, 1942, and died on September 16, 2026.
The family also appealed to bloggers and social media influencers to respect their privacy as they mourn the veteran actor.
Claim
As Nigerians continue to react and pay tribute to the late actor, a video which claims to show another veteran actor, Pete Edochie, paying tribute to Jacobs has surfaced online.
In the viral clip, Edochie was seen making a very emotional speech about his close relationship with the late actor.
From TikTok to Facebook, to Instagram and then to the X platform, the video continues to spread the Nigerian’s social media, with many believing that the clip is true.
The video was posted here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
Verification
FACTWATCH Nigeria first noticed, through a manual check, that the voice of Edochie sounds unnatural, which gave the signal that it was rather artificial.
Another proof that the clip was not real is that while speaking, Edochie looks much younger and fresher than his age. In his recent movies, it can be observed that the actor is fast-ageing as a nan his 70s.
But to make sure we validate this evidence that the video is unreal, we subjected it to video and image analysis using AI detection tools.
AI detection tools, like ISFAKEAI, DeepAI and SightEngine, were used to analyse the video clip and keyframes from it l.
No report or pages close to Edochie have published any new video or statement from the actor mourning the death of Jacobs.
His 2024 interview about the late actor surfaces
We also found out that an interview of Edochie speaking about Jacobs has been trending online.
In the interview with a media personality, Seun Oloketuyi, Edochie pointed out that he has never disagreed with or had any issues with Jacobs at any time in their careers as actors.
However, we traced and discovered that Oloketuyi had that interview with Edochie in May 2024 but reposted it again on his YouTube page days after the actor’s passing.
Verdict
Bloggers seeking monetisation can put anything up on social media to generate huge traffic for themselves, and this video of Pete Edochie paying an emotional tribute to Jacobs is one of the hunts, as findings showed that it was AI-generated; therefore, it is FALSE.
