Nigeria: Opposition Leader Peter Obi Didn’t Meet Nigerian President Bola Tinubu At His Residence. Ignore Manipulated Photo

IN SHORT: Facebook accounts are sharing images with the claim they show Peter Obi and Nigerian president Bola Tinubu meeting at his residence at Aso Rock in the capital Abuja. But Obi is not in the original photo.

An image posted on Facebook appears to show a meeting between Nigeria’s president Bola Tinubu and Labour Party’s Peter Obi.

The caption of the 20 August 2023 post reads: “Finally, Peter Obi meets President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in Aso Rock, Abuja.”

Obi has legally challenged the result of the country’s February presidential election, which saw Tinubu elected president and Obi come third.

The same image has been posted here.

Africa Check previously exposed a manipulated image of the president’s son, Seyi Tinubu, meeting the former Anambra governor.

So what about this image showing the president and one of his challengers? We checked.

Original photo photoshopped

A Google reverse image search of the image circulating on social media led to photos of the president and Aliko Dangote meeting at Tinubu’s private residence.

Dangote is one of the richest men in Africa and his movements generate media attention. His meeting with the president was reported on 12 May by Legit, a news platform in Nigeria.

Africa Check compared these photos to the suspicious image circulating on social media. Tinubu is wearing the same clothes and the background is the same, but Dangote has been replaced with Obi in the digitally manipulated image, and a presidential portrait has also been edited into the background.

The original photo shows only Tinubu and Dangote, whereas an unidentified man has been added to the foreground of the image of Tinubu and Obi.

We also found the phrase “caveat lector” in the bottom left-hand corner of the suspicious image, a Latin phrase meaning “let the reader beware”.

This image does not show a meeting between Tinubu and Obi and should be ignored.