Part 1

Fatoumatta: At times, a nation’s media faces deception so elaborate, so calculated, and so shameless that it demands public exposure. Over the past two years, what has emerged is not the harmless use of a pen name.

It is a coordinated digital fraud campaign — executed through fabricated identities, AI‑generated book covers, self‑written reviews, impersonation of reputable journalists, and the circulation of non‑existent books across Gambian platforms. At the center of this deception stands one individual: Alhagie Mbai.

For years, Alhagie Mbai, younger brother to the late Pa Nderry Mbai, operated behind a chorus of fake photos and fabricated identities: “Papa Njie,” “Arfang Madi Sillah,” “Kgnitins Famandts,” “Kebeli Demba Nyima,” each one a mask designed to amplify his attacks while concealing his hand.

He pretended to be the Daily Observer’s online newsroom. In truth, he was a one-person factory of malice. He built his digital empire not on truth, but on impersonation; not on journalism, but on humiliation; not on courage, but on anonymity. He believed that anonymity could shield him from accountability. But anonymity is a fragile refuge, and truth has a way of smoking out those who hide from their own names.

His most active pseudonym, “Arfang Madi Sillah,” is presented as a Washington‑based Gambian scholar, analyst, and author. Yet every element of this persona collapses under scrutiny. The books attributed to him are not books; they are AI‑generated covers attached to non‑existent manuscripts. The reviews praising these books are not reviews; they are self‑written endorsements posted under different aliases.

Even one book’s foreword is falsely attributed to Assan Sallah of LamToro News, whose name was used without consent. This is not creativity. It is impersonation. It is fraud.

The First Fake Book: Posted on 23 October 2024

On 23 October 2024, Concern Gambia TV published a dramatic AI‑generated book cover titled The Curtain Falls on the Press & Presidency Relationship — Barrow Goes Berserk, attributed to “Arfang Madi Sillah.” The accompanying write‑up described Sillah as a “Washington D.C.-based Gambian scholar and commentator” whose book offered “rigorous historical analysis” of press freedom under President Barrow.

None of this is true. No manuscript, publisher, ISBN, academic record, or Washington scholar named Arfang Madi Sillah exists. The book exists only as an AI‑generated image, a digital prop used to manufacture credibility.

The Second Fake Book: Posted on 11 December 2024

On 11 December 2024, a second book appeared online, circulated through LamToro News: The Essentials of Spycraft to Statecraft, again attributed to “Arfang Madi Sillah.” The cover was another AI‑generated creation, designed to mimic a professional geopolitical publication. The foreword attributed to Assan Sallah was fabricated. The book itself does not exist. Mbai himself wrote the quotes praising the book under different aliases. The claim that the book would be “distributed free to academic institutions” was part of the deception. This is not scholarship. It is counterfeiting.

The fraud pattern is unmistakable. A pseudonym is created. An AI‑generated book cover is designed. A fabricated biography is attached. A self‑written review is posted under another alias. They impersonate a real journalist to add legitimacy. They circulate the fake content across platforms to create the illusion of recognition. They then weaponise that fabricated credibility to attack real people. This is not eccentricity. It is a coordinated misinformation campaign.

Fake books are not harmless. Fake scholarship is not harmless. Fake forewords are not harmless. They distort public discourse, mislead readers, impersonate real journalists, weaponize AI to create false authority, and undermine trust in legitimate Gambian scholarship and journalism.

When deception becomes a tool of personal vendetta, silence becomes complicity. The Gambian public deserves better. It deserves truth, not theatrics; scholarship, not counterfeits; critique grounded in evidence, not deception wrapped in AI‑generated imagery.

We have identified two fake books: The Curtain Falls on the Press & Presidency Relationship, posted on 23 October 2024 on Concern Gambia TV; and The Essentials of Spycraft to Statecraft, posted on 11 December 2024 on LamToro News.

More pseudonyms and more fabricated works may emerge. We will fact-check, document, and expose them. The Gambian public will see clearly what lies behind the curtain: not scholarship, not commentary, but a man hiding behind masks of his own making. This commentary is the beginning of the exposé, not its end.

To be continued.

By Alagi Yorro Jallow