A VIRAL video circulating on social media claims to show Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate and the 2027 presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), making a significant mathematical error while discussing healthcare spending per citizen in Ghana.
The video shows Obi responding to questions from an Arise News TV correspondent, with COVID-19 and Arise News branding displayed on screen.
The claim was shared by a Facebook user, @CharlesKayeOkoye, with the caption: “Ghana’s health budget is $1.2 billion, if you divide it by 31 million Ghanaians, that is $41 million per head.”
As of 3 September 2026, the post has generated over 240 likes, 170 shares and more than 270 comments.
The claim also surfaced here, and here.
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CLAIM
Video shows Peter Obi miscalculating Ghana’s health budget during an interview.
FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is MISLEADING.
A reverse image search of different keyframes from the video by The FactCheckHub traced the footage to an interview Peter Obi granted to Arise News TV on 27 July 2020, confirming that the footage is old.
During the interview, Obi discussed Nigeria’s economic response to the COVID-19 pandemic, advocating for cuts in the cost of governance, greater financial transparency, and a halt to new tax policies during economic crises.
A full review of the original 2020 Arise News interview found that Obi did not, at any point, make the statement about Ghana’s health budget or the alleged calculation errors shown in the viral clip.
The FactCheckHub conducted keyword searches of the audio across the Arise News YouTube channel and social media platforms but found no audio or anything resembling it, being published in 2020.
Further visual and audio analysis of the viral clip revealed clear signs of digital manipulation. The speaker’s lip movements and facial expressions do not synchronise with the audio, indicating that the audio track was overlaid onto the original video.
VERDICT
The claim that a video shows Peter Obi miscalculating Ghana’s health budget is MISLEADING. The original 2020 Arise News interview contains no such statement, while the viral clip features audio that was digitally overlaid on the original footage and falsely presented as a recent recording.
Seasoned writer and literary curator, Zainab Abdulrasaq is a factchecker for The FactCheckHub in an effort to combat information disorder. She can be reached on IG @blackbookishgirl or zabdulrasaq@icirnigeria.org
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