Doctored image of Peter Obi, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, ‘UK cop’ circulates online

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An image showing Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the chairperson of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) with Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of Labour Party in Nigeria’s 2023 general elections, sitting side by side in front of a foreign police officer has surfaced online with a claim that it shows when Dabiri-Erewa went to bail Obi in London.

The photo was circulating amidst media reports that Peter Obi was detained in London, United Kingdom over impersonation.

READ : Photo of Obi in handshakes with Tinubu is FAKE!

According to Premium Times, Obi was reportedly accosted by UK Immigration officials and placed in detention where he spent the Easter holidays.

A chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Adamu Garba tweeted the photo with a caption that read:

Here is how the government of APC helped to recover Peter Obi from his detention cell in the UK over allegations of traveling to the UK with fake documents. All thanks to Abike Dabiri. His campaign fake, manifesto fake, his motives fake, even his travel documents are fake. WHY?”

The tweet has garnered over 200 retweets, more than 1,000 likes and over 300,000 views as of 7:ooPM on April 13, 2023.

A Twitter account, Tinubu/Shettima Media Support Group with the username: @TinubuMediaS also tweeted the photo with a caption thus:

Bola Tinubu’s ally and political student, Abike Dabiri have successfully rescued Peter Obi from his uk detention cell. We don’t play politics of bitterness.

The tweet has generated over 90 likes, more than 250 likes and over 27,000 views as of 7:ooPM on April 13, 2023.

A Twitter user, Prince Adeshina, with the username: @RealAdeshina tweeted the same photo with another caption thus: 

God bless my big sis @Abikedabiri.” 

The tweet has garnered more than 50 retweets, over 200 likes and over 23,000 views as of 7:ooPM on April 13, 2023.

CLAIM

Photo shows the moment when Abike Dabiri-Erewa went to secure bail for Peter Obi in London.

Screenshot of Adamu Garba’s tweet showing the viral doctored photo.

THE FINDINGS

Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the image has been doctored.

When subjected to image verification using FotoForensics, The FactCheckHub observed some inconsistencies in the analysis of the photo which indicate that the image has been digitally manipulated.

For instance, in the photo, Obi appeared to be sitting on an empty space while we observed some blur around the hands of Dabiri-Erewa.

Furthermore, The FactCheckHub observed that the images of the duo alongside the cop were taken from three different scenes and merged together using an image manipulation tool.

READ ALSO : Did Antony Blinken name Peter Obi, Wike, Keyamo, others in US visa ban announcement?

Extensive analysis shows that the image of Dabiri-Erewa was taken from this scene when she paid a courtesy visit to the Nigerian Naval Chief A.Z. Gambo.

The original picture of Obi shows when he visited former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, The Punch reported.

Meanwhile, the third image of the cop was taken from Season 3, Episodes 9 of a 2010 movie scene titled: Customs: Fighting Crime at the Border.

The ninth episode where the image was taken is titled: Something Swallowed, Something Blue and uploaded to Amazon’s website on September 4, 2010.

Further checks revealed that Leadership Newspaper has also debunked the image which has gone viral on social media.

Screenshot of the Leadership Newspaper’s debunk of the viral photo.

THE VERDICT

The claim that the photo shows the moment when Abike Dabiri-Erewa went to secure bail for Peter Obi in London is MISLEADING; findings revealed that the photo has been manipulated.

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Nurudeen Akewushola is a fact-checker with FactCheckHub. He has authored several fact checks which have contributed to the fight against information disorder. You can reach him via [email protected] and @NurudeenAkewus1 via Twitter.

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