Fact-Check: False! Peter Obi Did Not Meet Donald Trump or Receive His Endorsement

By: Mustapha Lawal

Claim: 

Viral social media posts, accompanied by images, claim that former Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi met with former US president Donald Trump, who reportedly praised him as “hope for a greater Nigeria.”

Verdict: 

False. There is no evidence that Obi met Trump. The images are digitally manipulated, and Obi himself has publicly debunked the claim.

Full Text

On 25 September 2025, a Facebook post with the headline “Trump Praises Peter Obi, Says He Sees Hope for a Greater Nigeria” circulated widely across Nigerian social media.

The post was accompanied by an image showing Obi and Trump shaking hands inside the Oval Office at the White House. It claimed Trump, while addressing an audience of African diplomats and US policymakers in Washington, lauded Obi’s “simplicity, discipline, and business acumen.”

The post quoted Trump as saying: “I met Peter Obi, a fine gentleman, very smart, very humble. Nigeria has great potential, and I believe people like Obi represent hope for a greater Nigeria.”

Several partisan blogs and Facebook pages replicated the same claim (here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here), presenting it as fact. But did this meeting really take place? FactCheckAfrica investigated

Verification

FactCheckAfrica conducted keyword searches and reviewed media coverage for the weekend in question, the third weekend of September 2025. No credible reports indicated that Trump held any public event with African diplomats or US policymakers at which Obi was present.

Events involving a former US president and African political figures would typically receive wide coverage from international media, diplomatic correspondents, and US-based Nigerian outlets. None carried this story.

We also checked Trump’s public statements and appearances. The closest related engagement was his July 2025 meeting with five African heads of state. Obi, not being a sitting government official, was not among them.

The supposed image of Trump and Obi does not appear on any credible media website. A reverse image search shows signs of digital manipulation, raising further doubts about its authenticity.

On 21 September 2025, Peter Obi stated on his verified X (formerly Twitter) account. He described the photos as fake and the accompanying narratives as false.

“My attention has been drawn to some pictures currently circulating on social media, falsely portraying meetings I never had. One of such images purports to show me with US President Donald Trump, alongside a fabricated claim that he praised me. Another seeks to depict me with MC Oluomo in his office. Let me state categorically that both pictures are fake and doctored, and the accompanying stories are entirely false.”

Obi further noted that these fabrications “highlight the persistent dangers of fake news and disinformation,” warning that they are designed to “confuse, misguide, and distract the public.”

Peter Obi, who ran as the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in 2023, remains a popular opposition figure in Nigeria. His supporters and critics frequently use manipulated images or fabricated claims to shape political narratives about his relevance and influence. Trump, on the other hand, remains a high-profile global figure. Any real meeting between him and Obi, especially with accompanying praise, would have been widely reported by both the US and Nigerian media. The absence of such coverage is a clear indication that the claim is baseless.

Conclusion

The claim that Peter Obi met Donald Trump and received his endorsement is false. No evidence supports the claim, the images are doctored, and Obi himself has publicly refuted it. This is another case of politically motivated misinformation designed to exploit Obi’s popularity ahead of Nigeria’s 2027 elections.