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Claim: A Facebook user shared an image showing former President Olusegun Obasanjo prostrating before Oba Rasheed Ladoja, the Olubadan designate.
Verdict: False. The image was digitally manipulated, and there is no credible evidence that such an event occurred.
Full Text
The recent death of the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Owolabi Olakulehin, has cast the ancient city into mourning and renewed focus on its rich royal succession tradition.
As the mantle now appears set to fall on Senator Rashidi Ladoja, public attention has also turned to the long-standing frosty relationship between Ladoja and Nigeria’s former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. There are speculations about whether Obasanjo will put aside old grievances to honour Ibadan’s new monarch, either during or after his coronation.
On July 8, 2025, a popular broadcaster based in Ibadan, Southwest Nigeria, Samuel Ibikunle ArugboBoisi, posted an image (archived here) on Facebook depicting Nigeria’s former President Olusegun Obasanjo prostrating before Oba Rasheed Ladoja, who is in line to become the next Olubadan of Ibadanland after the demise of HRM Oba Owolabi Olakuleyin.
The post was captioned, “They said a picture is worth a thousand words, but this one collected over a million and still counting!”
The post quickly attracted significant attention with over 4,100 reactions, 175 shares, and 580 comments as of July 10, 2025.
A Facebook user, Ajayi Olawale Taolaj, who believed the post, wrote, “Thank you for bringing this, but mind you, sir Obj is a kind of person who is always accepting his mistakes and he would tell you reasons behind his actions. Do you remember when he told Kabiyesi LADOJA in Ibadan, then that Baba Adedibu had become dried fish, and it wasn’t easy to re-appoint? They are all friends, and they can easily forgive each other. Oluwa je ki tiwa NAA ooooda.”
Another user, Alonge Mopelola, reflected on how times change. Alonge wrote, “Ah the table has turned, the person they prostrated for now prostrated for his former subordinate. Such is life, no condition is permanent.”
Aduramomi Balogun defended Obasanjo’s action to prostrate for the monarch while alleging the image to be AI-generated.
He wrote, “I don’t know why people like to be doing this? Because Baba Obasanjo is a real Yoruba man, doing what is supposed to, we have a lot of prominent people who will not even bend their head, talk of prostrating, instead, they shake hands with the king in Yoruba land, o ga o.. Baba is doing what is right, and you are making a jest of him. Na, you know o. Anyways, the picture is an AI-generated one.”
But Femi Moses dismissed it outright, noting, “This picture is fake, Photoshop zoomed to the neck. I don’t know what the poster is driving at, but the picture is doctored.”
Due to the claim’s wide circulation and cultural sensitivity, DUBAWA decided to investigate it.
Verification
DUBAWA began by running keyword searches to locate credible news reports of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s recent visit to Oba Rashidi Ladoja. However, we did not find any reports from reputable news outlets.
We then conducted a forensic analysis of the viral image. This analysis revealed clear signs of manipulation. By applying Double Quantisation detection on Invid, a video verification platform, DUBAWA found that the figure claimed to be Obasanjo had been digitally inserted into the photo.
Additionally, a reverse image search using Google Lens reveals that the photo of Ladoja and the two other individuals is from Oba Rasheed Ladoja’s 80th birthday celebration, which Governor Seyi Makinde shared on Sept. 25, 2024.
Original image versus doctored Image.
Conclusion
The image showing that former President Olusegun Obasanjo visited and prostrated before Oba Rasheed Ladoja is false. The viral image circulating on Facebook was digitally altered, and there is no reliable evidence that any such event occurred.
