Claim: Nigerian Social Media influencer, Tunde Ednut, shared a video of Obasanjo criticising Tinubu’s government.
Verdict: Misleading. The video predates Tinubu’s presidency and was taken out of context.
Full Text
A common pattern in Nigeria’s online information space is the use of prominent public figures to lend credibility to false or misleading narratives. Olusegun Obasanjo, despite not being involved in recent partisan politics, has featured in several false claims.
For example, in 2025, DUBAWA debunked a claim that Obasanjo said Igbos control Lagos through ownership and investment, and that Yorubas largely live in Igbo-owned properties. Find other claims debunked here, here, here, here, and here.
Recently, Tunde Ednut, a popular social media influencer, shared a video (archived here) of Obasanjo criticising the government. The video was presented in a split-screen format, with Obasanjo speaking on one side and an image of President Tinubu on the other. This layout implies that the remarks were directed at Tinubu.
An inscription below the frames read, “Never reinforce failure. How can you fail to govern the people and still want to be elected again? I don’t understand this.”
In the footage, Obasanjo is heard saying, “When you have an ineffective and incompetent government, we are all victims, and don’t let anybody deceive you. Those of you who are in business, your business would have been better if we had an effective and performing government.”
He further criticised the justification often given by governments that they are unable to make progress due to challenges. He argued that addressing such challenges is the reason they are elected in the first place.
As of April 19, 2026, the video had 38,00 likes, 3,400 comments, and over 500,000 views.
We checked the comments to understand what users thought about the post.
@gen_batshuayi wrote, “They were together a few days ago in Ogun. He should tell him to his face.”
@chudeikem, “2027 Nigerian youths will justify or prove wrong the late President Buhari, who said we are lazy. Time is ticking.”
@uncle_dannyy, “All of them are the same button.”
Knowing that this is not the first time false claims have been linked to Obasanjo, the level of engagement it received, and its potential to mislead people if untrue, we decided to verify it.
Verification
DUBAWA used InVID to split the video into keyframes, then used the images to run a reverse image search. We found several videos showing him making the same statement here, here, and here, including one from a credible news platform. We also found that all of these videos were from 2018 and not recent.
Reports from credible media organisations at the time indicate that the video was recorded during Obasanjo’s hosting of members of the New Nigeria Group at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library.
During that meeting, Obasanjo criticised the state of the economy under the administration of former president Muhammadu Buhari, stating that Nigerians were bearing the consequences of poor governance.
This aligns with his broader stance in 2018, including a public letter in which he advised Buhari not to seek re-election ahead of the 2019 general elections.
There is no connection between this video and Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as he was neither president nor a candidate for the office at the time.
Conclusion
Our findings show that Olusegun Obasanjo’s remarks were made in 2018 and were not directed at Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The claim is therefore misleading.