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Claim: A YouTube video shows Rema singing for Burkina Faso military ruler, Ibrahim Traoré.
Verdict: False! The video did not come from Rema but is a manipulated mashup of Rema’s official music video clips and political footage, combined with a misleading audio track.
Full Text
Since Captain Ibrahim Traoré came to power in Burkina Faso through a military coup in 2022, social media has been flooded with content glorifying his leadership, portraying him as a pan-African hero resisting Western influence.
Across platforms such as Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, and X (formerly Twitter), many accounts, some authentic, others linked to coordinated inauthentic networks, have been pushing pro-Traoré messages, often using repurposed videos, AI-generated clips, and music mashups to amplify their reach, as confirmed here, here and here.
Recently, a YouTube channel, ARTIFY, uploaded a two-minute-and-nine-second video titled “REMA ~ Chante pour Ibrahim Traoré” on March 7, 2025, claiming that Nigerian Afrobeats star Rema released a song praising Ibrahim Traoré and his military rule.
The video features a mashup of Rema’s performances spliced with footage of Traoré, with a French title translating to “Rema sings for Ibrahim Traoré.”
As of May 9, 2025, the post had 145,085 views, 3,600 likes, and 250 comments.
We analysed the YouTube page and observed that the channel that shared the video has a history of uploading music videos using images and videos of international music stars to promote Ibrahim Traore’s military rule in Burkina Faso here and here.
Comments under the video show a divided audience. While most users praised the song, believing Rema has aligned himself with the military leader, a few others expressed scepticism, pointing out that the voice in the video sounds like AI-generated music.
Reacting in belief, Tara Overe (@TaraOvere) wrote, “I hope all the people in Africa will celebrate him so that the African leaders in governments will learn to do good like him, bless Mr President Ibrahim.” In contrast, Kenny King (@kennyking5606) wrote, “No matter where you come, you can always see the truth love from.”
In contrast, IB Trendz (@IBTrendz) commented, “Who mixed this up like that? This is not Rema.” Gr8son (@gr8son494) also wrote, “AI usage in this manner needs to be banned.”
Mixed reactions to the video and its potential to fuel the perception that Nigerian celebrities endorse military regimes amid rising anti-democracy sentiment prompted DUBAWA to conduct a fact check.
Verification
We downloaded the video, extracted keyframes using InVid, and conducted a reverse image search on some of the keyframes from the video using Google Lens. This revealed that the footage of Rema was taken directly from his official music videos “Ozeba,” uploaded on Rema’s official channel on July 11, 2024, and “Charm,” uploaded on May 25, 2023.
These clips were edited and combined with footage of Ibrahim Traoré, creating the illusion that Rema had produced a tribute or endorsement for the military ruler.
DUBAWA conducted a voice comparison analysis using the AudD music recognition platform. The audio track extracted from the video, which was converted to MP3 format, was analysed.
The platform did not identify the track matching any of Rema’s official releases or his known voice profile. In contrast, when we uploaded the MP3 version of Rema’s official track ‘Charm,’ the platform correctly displayed the song’s metadata.
Screenshot showing result of our search of the Mp3 format of the music video “REMA ~ Chante pour Ibrahim Traoré” on AudD
Meanwhile, DUBAWA conducted a keyword search on Rema’s official social media platforms (Instagram, X, Facebook, YouTube) and found no mention, endorsement, or involvement in any music related to Ibrahim Traoré or Burkina Faso’s political situation. Rema’s recent posts continue to focus on his global tour, music promotions, and fan interactions.
Conclusion
The YouTube video claiming that Rema has released a song endorsing or praising Ibrahim Traoré is false. Our findings reveal the video is a manipulated mashup of Rema’s official music video clips and unrelated political footage, combined with a misleading audio track.
