The Lagos State Police Command has dismissed as false a viral claim that officers fired tear gas at pensioners during a protest at the Lagos State House of Assembly, with its spokesperson insisting the widely shared photograph used as evidence was generated by artificial intelligence.
In a statement issued Tuesday, SP Abimbola Adebisi, Police Public Relations Officer for the Lagos State Command, said no tear gas canister was discharged at any point during Monday’s demonstration by the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), Lagos State Council.
“Not a single canister of tear gas was fired throughout the duration of the protest,” Adebisi said, describing the circulating reports as “false and misleading.”
According to Adebisi, about 500 NUP members gathered peacefully at the Lagos State Governor’s Office in Alausa, Ikeja, from around 8:30 a.m. on Monday.
The protest was led by the union’s chairman, Comrade Michael Omishade, alongside the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) chairperson, Comrade Agnes Funmi Sesse.
Adebisi said officers from the Rapid Response Squad, the Lagos State Taskforce, the Eko Strike Force, and divisional units were deployed to the area to maintain order, in an operation coordinated by the Deputy Commissioner of Police for Operations.
She said the Chief of Staff to the Lagos State Governor, Mr Tayo Akinmade Ayinde, addressed the protesters before their executives moved into a roughly three-hour closed-door meeting at the Governor’s Conference Hall. The demonstrators dispersed peacefully around 4:30 p.m., she added, with no incident recorded.
Adebisi singled out an image circulating online that purports to show retirees being tear-gassed, calling it fabricated. “The photograph in circulation is AI-generated and does not represent what transpired at the protest venue,” she said.
She urged the public to avoid spreading unverified content that could “mislead the public, incite unnecessary tension, or undermine public confidence.”
Quoting Commissioner of Police Tijani Fatai, Adebisi said the force remains committed to protecting citizens’ right to peaceful assembly while ensuring such activities stay lawful and orderly.
“The public should rely on verified information from credible and authorised sources and desist from creating or circulating misinformation, manipulated images, and unverified posts,” the Commissioner said, according to Adebisi’s statement.
