IN SHORT: With Peter Obi challenging Bola Tinubu’s presidential election victory in court, a visit to his rival would be newsworthy. But that visit did not happen.
A post circulating on social media claims that Nigerian opposition leader Peter Obi visited president-elect Bola Tinubu.
This would be notable because Obi is challenging the outcome of the country’s February 2023 election, in which Tinubu, the candidate of the governing All Progressives Congress, was declared the winner.
Obi, who contested on the ticket of the Labour Party, came third.
The post, which includes a photo of the two politicians and other dignitaries, was also shared by various pages on Twitter and Facebook.
The post reads, in part: “The Labour Party presidential candidate H.E Peter Obi visited the president-elect Tinubu. The reconciliation and nation building has started.”
Other people in the photo include the speaker of the house of representatives Femi Gbajabiamila, billionaire business executive Aliko Dangote and the governor of Lagos state, Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
But did Tinubu and Obi meet?
Obi: I didn’t visit Tinubu
A Google image search shows that the original image was shared on the president-elect’s official Twitter page on 26 April.
The photo was taken during a courtesy visit by Dangote to Tinubu’s private residence. But Obi was not present.
In the image doing the rounds, it is clear that he has been photoshopped in.
In an interview with local news channel Arise News on 1 May, Obi denied visiting Tinubu.
He said: “It did not happen. I have never visited him.”
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