Samad Uthman, a digital investigative journalist with Agence France-Presse (AFP) Fact Check has won the 2025 Africa fact-checking award for the professional fact-checker category at a ceremony in Dakar, Senegal.
The award ceremony was part of the 2025 Africa Facts Summit, where journalists, fact-checkers, and researchers on the continent converged to discuss misinformation trends.
The award had winners from three categories: fact-check of the year by a working journalist, fact-check of the year by a student journalist, and fact-check of the year by a professional fact-checker.
Uthman won with an investigative report that exposed how artificial intelligence (AI) tools are being used to generate misleading videos featuring public figures who appear to endorse “miracle” cures for medical ailments, including heart-related diseases.
The report specifically exposed how an AI-generated video of Nigerian-born US-based professor Samuel Achilefu was used to advertise a herbal product purportedly meant to cure heart diseases.
Hossam Elhendy of Egypt was runner-up in the professional fact-checker category.
In the working journalist category, Ariel Gbaguidi of Benin Republic clinched the first prize while Cissé Fana of Senegal placed second.
In the student journalist category, Badra Dabbabi of Tunisia clinched the top prize, while Iretomiwa Balogun of Nigeria was named as runner-up.
Samad Uthman joined TheCable in 2022 as a multimedia investigative journalist and left for AFP in 2024.
