Nigerian musician Charly Boy recently posted on social media that Nnamdi Kanu’s son had won an international “world brain competition.”
In a tweet on Wednesday, Charly Boy wrote:
“Nnamdi Kanu’s son has shocked the world by becoming the first child ever to win English, Mathematics, and Russian Language in an international world brain competition. The 11-year-old prodigy outshined the United Kingdom in their very own language, emerging as the champion. He went further to defeat some of the world’s strongest young minds, proving his brilliance on the global stage. This historic victory has not only placed him in the spotlight but also written his name in the record books as one of the most gifted children of his generation.”
The tweet has attracted significant attention, gathering over 950,000 views, 24,000 likes, 4,600 retweets, and nearly 700 bookmarks. Reactions among the 1,400 comments were mixed, with some users trying to verify the claim using AI tools like Grok, while others expressed excitement.
However, Charly Boy’s post left out important details, such as the date, the competition’s name, or the winner’s full identity.
Fact Check Findings
The regional British Neuroscience Olympiad (BNO) 2025 took place online from June 14 to 17, with the national event held in August in London. The competition, designed to inspire young students to explore neuroscience and STEM fields, included questions on neuroscience in the regional rounds, and multiple-choice questions, patient diagnosis challenges, and neuroanatomy tests in the national rounds.
The official winners were Mehul Rathi in first place, Pouria Karimi in second, and Hannah Weissmann in third.
Another event, the “Brain Up International Championship 2025,” focused on abacus and mental arithmetic skills, but detailed winner information is limited. One Instagram post mentioned Myra Shaikh as a champion in an international abacus contest.
The International Brain Bee also held its 2025 world championship virtually in the United States. The BNO was the closest recent event in the UK resembling a “world brain competition.”
A reverse image search conducted on the photo Charly Boy used revealed that the child pictured is not Nnamdi Kanu’s son. The image actually shows Alejandro Cooper, a young Namibian actor who won the ‘Best Youngest African Actor’ award in Burkina Faso on November 16 for his role in the film Lukas. This was widely reported by Namibian media.
Conclusion
The photo shared by Charly Boy is not of Nnamdi Kanu’s son, and there is no verified evidence linking him to any international brain competition victory. The claim is false.