Claim: Togo’s President hints at joining the AES
Source: X
Verdict: False
Researched by Gifty Tracy Aminu
An X account, Sahel Revolutionary Soldier, on December 15, 2025, shared a video of Togolese President Faure Gnassingbé with a caption that suggested that the president had conceded that Togo would join the Alliance of Sahel States (known by the French acronym AES).
The caption read, “Togo’s president concede before a packed auditorium of African dignitaries that it is not a question of if Togo would join AES but when.” It continued: “The AES mentality is spreading. Will Togo join the AES? For me, yes, it’s only a matter of time.” This post had been viewed 73.6K times with 362 reposts, 1.2K likes and attracted 42 comments at the time of publication.
GhanaFact found that the second part of the caption above (AES mentality is spreading …) was originally shared by an X account, AES Alerte in a post dated December 15, 2025. The post shared by AES Alerte has gathered 20.2K views, 808 likes, 32 comments and 152 reposts.
RelatedNews
The Alliance of Sahel States is a military-led group of countries, including Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, which was founded in September 2023.
This report will verify whether per the video shared by AES and amplified by Sahel Revolutionary Soldier, the Togolese president mentioned joining the AES.
Fact-check
GhanaFact traced the video to an address by President Gnassingbé at the 9th Pan-African Congress co-organised by the African Union held in Lome between December 8 to 12, 2025. The video shared on social media was taken out of the speech read by the President on the first day of the event.
Below is an English translation of what the president said in the circulated video:
“As the world is changing, the international order is being reshaped, and new centres of power are emerging. In this moment of transformation, one reality is clear: no African nation can face alone the scale of contemporary challenges—neither climate injustice, nor health crises, nor technological divides, nor global economic competition.
“Pan-Africanism is therefore no longer just an idea; it is an imperative, a strategy for sovereignty. It means deciding for ourselves, based on a collective, realistic, and ambitious vision. The Pan-Africanism we advocate here is not one of slogans.
“It is a pragmatic and demanding Pan-Africanism. A Pan-Africanism that unites our peoples, our cultures, our markets, and our knowledge. A Pan-Africanism capable of acting in a world that will not wait for us. This congress must reaffirm a simple conviction: Africa can no longer be a mere spectator. Divided, it will be vulnerable.”
GhanaFact identified that the President spoke at the programme for a little over 14 minutes, and at no point did he mention the interest of Togo joining the AES.
Verdict
The claim that the Togolese president hinted at joining the AES is False.
