Peter Obi. Image source: Vanguard News
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Claim: Instablog claimed that Peter Obi said crashing food prices would impoverish farmers and that high food prices must be maintained to protect them.
Verdict: Misleading. While he did speak about how the importation of cheaper food could harm local farmers and worsen poverty among them, the videos reviewed do not show him expressly stating that high food prices must be ensured to save farmers.
Full Text
Peter Obi is one of Nigeria’s prominent political figures, a former Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate who later defected to the African Democratic Congress (ADC). Although Obi has not yet won a presidential election, he continues to engage with the public and media, discussing his manifestos and broader issues relevant to an aspiring president.
Meanwhile, DUBAWA has actively fact-checked claims linked to Obi here, here, and here.
On Mar. 1, 2026, a popular Nigerian blog, Instablog, claimed (archived here) that Obi said a crash in food prices would further impoverish local farmers if it were due to increased imports. The post also states that he said high food prices must remain in place to protect farmers.
The post included a lengthy text presented as Obi’s statement. It reads, “Somebody called me today when I walked in here and told me that food prices have gone down. We have killed our farmers by importing cheap goods from outside Nigeria and throwing our farmers into poverty by worsening the hunger situation in the country. We must ensure high prices to save the farmers.”
As of Mar. 6, 2026, the post generated over 2,300 comments, 3,100 likes, and 84 shares.
Facebook users reacted to this claim differently. @Kingsley Odume wrote, “If truly this speech is not AI-generated, I leave power to T- pain.”
@Casmir Oregbhemhe stated, “You don’t crash the price of food, you make food surplus in the market, and food prices will naturally settle by themselves. Also, make farm techniques and mechanisms cheaper for farmers.”
@Long Bola asked, “Somebody should tell me Obi didn’t say this, please.”
From the comments outlined above and many others under the Facebook post, several users expressed doubt about the claim, while others shared their opinions on the issue.
DUBAWA also found a post by another Facebook user who stated that (archived here) the interview with Obi was twisted. The text attached to the post read, “Where in Obi’s statement did he say that high prices must be maintained to protect farmers?”
The sensitive nature of the claim, as well as the debate it had already started generating among social media users, prompted DUBAWA to verify.
Verification
DUBAWA began by conducting keyword searches of the claim to determine whether Obi made the statement attributed to him by the Facebook user.
The search led to a video of Obi giving a speech in which he discussed the impact of food importation on Nigerian farmers.
While reacting to remarks about falling food prices, he argued that importing cheaper goods would push farmers into poverty. He said:
“I heard somebody tell me today when I walked in today that the food prices have gone down. Actually, we have killed all our farmers because we have imported cheap goods and thrown our farmers into poverty, which will worsen the hunger situation in Nigeria. Manufacturers’ houses are full without anything to show for.”
DUBAWA also found other reports and videos that show the same remarks here and here. These recordings confirm that he spoke about the drop in food prices and the effect on farmers, especially in relation to the importation of cheaper goods. However, we found no instance in which he expressly stated that high food prices must be ensured to save farmers.
It could mean two things. His remarks may suggest support for high food prices to protect farmers, or they may refer to the economic impact of cheap imports on local producers, rather than a direct call for higher food prices.
Regardless of what it meant, we did not find any evidence in the videos where he explicitly stated that high food prices must be maintained to save farmers.
Conclusion
DUBAWA found that the Facebook user interpreted Obi’s comment on the importation of food and its effect on farmers as a call for high food prices to save farmers. The claim is therefore misleading.
