IN SHORT: With Bola Tinubu’s inauguration as Nigeria’s president set for 29 May 2023, misinformation about his election victory continues to circulate on Facebook. One of these includes a photoshopped image showing CNN projecting Peter Obi as the president-elect instead of Tibunu.
A Facebook post claims that US-based cable news broadcaster CNN has refused to acknowledge Bola Tinubu as president-elect and projected Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi, as the winner of Nigeria’s 25 February 2023 presidential election.
The post includes two images, one of which seems to be a screenshot of CNN anchor, Wolf Blitzer, in front of a studio screen showing a CNN projection of Obi as the elected president.
The other one appears to be an official portrait of Obi as the president and commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the federal government of Nigeria.
The post begins with a headline: “Breaking News: CNN refused to acknowledge Tinubu as president-elect, projecting Peter Obi as the winner to be announced.”
“CNN has projected Labour party candidate Peter Obi as the winner of Nigeria's 2023 election, even after INEC announced Tinubu as the winner of the 2023 election.
According to CNN, the report their reporters who were live on the ground in Nigeria gave them from polling unit, and what INEC called was not the same, CNN said that Peter Obi got 90% votes from all Nigerians making him the rightful winner of the Nigerian election.
CNN explained that many attempts have been made to reach INEC from the US but they blocked all means of connection. Peter Obi is coming.”
The same message has appeared in dozens of Facebook posts. Some include a link to an article on the news blog Daily Excessive, with the same headline and body.
We found over 20 other instances of the same post on Facebook. They include here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
But did CNN project Obi as president-elect instead of Tinubu?
Inec declared Tinubu the winner
The Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec) declared Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) the winner of the 2023 presidential election on 1 March.
However, opposition parties have rejected the outcome of the controversial election. They are challenging Tinubu’s victory in court. Obi has claimed that he won the election and is ready to prove it in court.
Tinubu is set to be inaugurated on 29 May.
Photoshopped 2020 CNN screenshot
A Google reverse image search showed the first screenshot was manipulated.
Obi’s photo, name and Nigeria’s coat of arms were photoshopped onto an original CNN screenshot of Blitzer calling the 2020 United States presidential race for Joe Biden.
The original screenshot has Biden’s photo and name, and the US presidential seal.
CNN reported Tinubu’s victory in the 2023 election and has referred to him as Nigeria’s president-elect.
There is no evidence CNN ever reported that Obi had won.
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