FACT-CHECK: Did Aliko Dangote Say Peter Obi Can Transform Nigeria Through Prudent Governance?

BY:  Shero Abbas 

Image of the claimant post on X. Photo Source: X

Claim: 

A viral post circulating on X (formerly Twitter), claims that Aliko Dangote praised Peter Obi governing competence.

Verdict: 

False. There is no credible evidence that Aliko Dangote made this statement. Searches of reputable Nigerian and international media outlets, Dangote’s known public statements, interviews, and official channels found no record of him making the quoted remark.

Full Text: 

A viral X account (formerly Twitter) “Mayor of Calabar”, shared a claim that Aliko Dangote praises Peter Obi over competent governance when he’s elected as the president of the federal republic of Nigeria and will make Nigeria recognized in the world stage both in education and healthcare. His caption reads as follow:

BREAKING: “Peter Obi can bring out the fortunes of Nigeria and make people recognize us around the world, both in education, healthcare, and most especially prudence in governance.”

Peter Obi is a Nigerian politician and former governor of Anambra State, serving two terms between 2006 and 2014.  He ran as the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in 2023 and today he’s also the presidential candidate for the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) for the forthcoming presidential election.

The post includes a photograph of Aliko Dangote speaking at a business event, giving the impression that he made the statement during a public appearance.

The post attracted thousands of likes, reposts, and comments, contributing to its widespread circulation on social media.

Verification: 

We conducted keyword searches using combinations of the quoted statement alongside the names “Aliko Dangote” and “Peter Obi.”

The searches found no reports from credible news organisations such as Channels Television, Arise News, Premium Times, Vanguard, TheCable, Punch, Reuters, or the BBC quoting Dangote as making the statement.

The wording of the quote also raises red flags. It contains awkward expressions such as “bring out the fortunes of Nigeria” and “make people recognize us around the world,” which do not reflect Dangote’s typical style of public communication.

Furthermore, we came across a report by Dangote Industries Limited disowning the viral post, stating that the claim was false and that the quoted statement did not originate from Aliko Dangote.

In addition, none of the viral posts provides a date, location, interview, speech, video, or publication where Dangote allegedly made the statement.

Notably, authentic quotations from prominent public figures are usually traceable to a speech, press conference, interview, or official publication. In this case, no such evidence exists.

Conclusion: 

The claim that Aliko Dangote said Peter Obi “can bring out the fortunes of Nigeria” through education, healthcare, and prudent governance is unverified. There is no credible record that Dangote made the statement, and no reputable news organisation has reported it.

This report was published under Muneer Yakub’s NACJ-UDUS Next-Gen Fact-check and OSINT Fellowship