Nigeria: No, Nigerian Politician Obi Did Not 'Pay Homage' to Trade Union Leader Akinsanya - Ignore Doctored Photo

27 November 2024
Africa Check (Johannesburg)
By Semilore Adelola

No, Nigerian politician Obi did not 'pay homage' to trade union leader Akinsanya - ignore doctored photo

IN SHORT: Several Facebook posts have claimed that the Nigeria Labour Party's Peter Obi paid homage to the newly elected national president of the transport workers' union, Musiliu Akinsanya. But this is false, and the viral image accompanying the claim has been doctored.

"BREAKING: Peter Obi pays homage to Oluomo and vows to work with him as the new NURTW National President," reads a 12 November 2024 post on Facebook.

As evidence, the post features a photo of Peter Obi apparently standing next to Musiliu Akinsanya, popularly known as MC Oluomo.

Obi is a Nigerian politician and former governor of Anambra state. In 2023, he ran for president of the country on the Labour Party ticket, coming third.

Days before the claim started circulating, Akinsanya was elected national president of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, or NURTW.

Akinsanya has previously been accused of election-related violence and misconduct. During the 2023 presidential election, he reportedly threatened voters to vote for Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress party.

The same claim can also be found here, here and here. (Note: See more instances at the end of this report.)

But did Obi pay homage to Akinsanya, and were they photographed together? We checked.

No truth to the claim

A Google reverse image search led us to the original photo, which showed Akinsanya standing alone.

We compared the two photos and noticed signs of manipulation on the one with Obi. In the original image, the Nigerian flag on Akinsanya's right-hand side was a bit far from him. But in the circulating photo, he appeared to be standing almost in front of it.

A closer look at the photo in question also revealed a small image of an unidentified person watermarked on the wall, which we couldn't find in the original photo.

FotoForensics, an image verification tool, revealed that the viral image with Obi had several inconsistencies, pointing to a manipulated photo.

No credible media has reported that Obi paid homage to Akinsanya. Akinsanya has shown support for Tinubu before, and if he had met with Obi, it would have made headlines.

Neither Obi nor Akinsanya have posted the photo on their social media pages.

We found no evidence to support the claim that Obi congratulated Akinsanya on his new position and vowed to work with him. The photo used to support the claim has been manipulated.

The same claim and photo can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

Read the original story, with links and other resources.
Africa Check is a non-partisan organisation which promotes accuracy in public debate and in the media. Twitter @AfricaCheck and www.africacheck.org

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