ON Sunday, August 20, 2023, a photo showing Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of Labour Party in Nigeria’s 2023 general election while having a conversation with Seyi Tinubu surfaced online.
The photo is being circulated alongside a claim that Obi has given up on his election-related court case and agreed to work with the nation’s president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
An X (formerly Twitter) user, Persian Queen (@LyndiaTeanaJaja) posted the claim with a caption that reads:
“I’m am now ready to work with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu – Peter Obi.”
The claim has generated over 400,000 views, 400 reposts and more than 3,800 likes as of Sunday evening, August 20, 2023.
Another X user, Ikenga Africa (@apro_dawildcat) also reposted the claim with a caption thus:
“Seyi, your father is the winner of the 2023 presidential election, I only went to court to make Obidients feel important. Nigeria will succeed under your father. Peter Obi tells Seyi Tinubu.”
The photo has also gone viral on WhatsApp, a messaging and video-calling app owned by Meta.
CLAIM
Photo shows Peter Obi conversing with Seyi Tinubu.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is FALSE.
Checks conducted using Google Reverse Image search show that the image has been edited using an image manipulation software.
The search led us to the original image which reveals that the other person in the photo has been swapped with Peter Obi.
Similarly, the photo frames on the wall were also doctored, as they replaced the image of former President Muhammadu Buhari with that of President Tinubu to hide the fact that the picture is old.
Analysis of the photo reveals that the person having a conversation with Seyi Tinubu is one Umar Faruk Lawal, who once contested for the post of the President of National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS).
The photo was used as a feature image in a media report published in May, 2023 where Lawal led a coalition of some civil society groups to condemn Bloomberg’s report against Seyi Tinubu indicting him of fraudulently purchasing a property worth $11 million from former Nigerian minister, Diezani K. Alison-Madueke’s ally, Kola Aluko.
THE VERDICT
The claim that the photo shows Seyi Tinubu having a conversation with Peter Obi is FALSE; findings show that the image has been manipulated.
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.
