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CLAIM: Peter Obi visits President Tinubu at the state house, Aso Rock.
VERDICT: False. The photo used to represent the post has been doctored. There is evidence of an original copy. Also, no public reports suggest that such a meeting occurred between the duo.
Full Text
A Facebook handle, The Pickers NG, posted on the meta parent app that the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Candidate, Peter Obi, paid a visit to the state house in Abuja, where President Bola Tinubu resides.
“Obi visits, Tinubu welcomes. Obi in Aso Rock villa.” Part of the statement reads.
Along with the post is a picture that shows a delighted Mr Obi and President Tinubu shaking hands in what seems like the presidential villa.
This is coming in the thick of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) which has reached its climax stage with the court ready to pass its final judgement in September, and a hashtag #alleyesonthejudiciary is agog on social media.
It is highly perceived that there are pressures on all sides as to the tribunal’s outcome. On Thursday, August 31, 2023, the post earned 168 likes and 234 comments, with some people highly critical of the post.
“Out of ideas. This is cheap and childish.” Neduigweh Chinedu commented.
“Are they supposed to be enemies? That they have different political ideologies shouldn’t be declared a war.” viewed Magnus Obidike.
Due to the contention that the post has generated and the underlying tones it has set in public discourse, DUBAWA decided to fact-check it.
Verification
Since we have seen similar scenarios where photos of public figures have been digitally doctored, we just ran a Google reverse image scan on the picture.
We found a similar picture had been taken of the President, however, with business magnate Aliko Dangote.
The photos had been shared on X (formerly Twitter) by a user, Daddy D.O. (@DOlusegun).
We also saw a trademark name on the doctored version, which is usually the habit of digital creators to market themselves and own rights to digital properties.
We also observed that the third official isn’t in the original picture. It explains why he seems to be looking away from the interaction of the other two in a way that seems he doesn’t know what is happening. He had been dubbed into the picture.
Finally, we checked for reports that suggest that Mr Obi visited the Aso Rock presidential villa but found none from any credible news outlet.
Conclusion
The photo used to represent the post has been doctored. Also, no public reports suggest such a meeting occurred between Tinubu and Peter Obi. The claim is, therefore, false.
