BY: Mustapha Lawal
Claim:
A graphic circulating on social media claims that Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), said Yoruba Muslims are not practising “real Islam” and that Islam is practised only in Northern Nigeria.
Verdict: False.
Full Text:
FactCheckAfrica received a WhatsApp factcheck request submission from a reader sharing a graphic that attributes a controversial statement to Peter Obi, claiming that he said, “The Yoruba Muslims are not practicing real Islam. Real Islam is being practiced only in the North, that’s why the president should do Sallah in Sokoto or Kano.”
Caption: The graphic features a screenshot of Obi from an interview on Arise Television, giving the impression that the statement was made during the interview.
The claim subsequently circulated on social media, including X, where users criticised Obi over the alleged comment. One X user, @Sistaliano, shared the graphic with a caption accusing Obi of insulting Yoruba Muslims, while another user, @YemmyAj, wrote that the statement showed Obi was “campaigning against himself”.
The graphic appeared online shortly after Arise Television aired an interview with Obi, prompting FactCheckAfrica to examine the full interview and determine whether he made the statement attributed to him.
Verification:
FactCheckAfrica reviewed the full Arise Television interview with Obi, which was published on the station’s YouTube channel.
The review found that Obi did not make the statement attributed to him anywhere in the interview. He did not say that Yoruba Muslims were not practising “real Islam”, nor did he state that “real Islam” is practised only in Northern Nigeria.
Obi did, however, discuss Sallah and his plans for observing the Muslim festival if elected president. While criticising President Bola Tinubu for spending Sallah in Lagos, Obi said he would instead visit Northern Nigeria and use the occasion to bring Nigerians together.
“Sallah and everything he (Tinubu) spends in Lagos. A Muslim. I will go to Sokoto and spend the Sallah with the Sultan and bring everybody together and we will discuss the future. I will go to Kano,” Obi said.
The statement attributed to Obi in the circulating graphic does not appear in the interview. Although the graphic uses an authentic screenshot of Obi from the Arise Television interview, the image does not establish that the accompanying quotation was made by him.
The unsupported quotation appears to have been attached to a genuine image from the interview, creating a false impression about what Obi said.
Conclusion:
The claim that Peter Obi said Yoruba Muslims are not practising “real Islam” and that real Islam is practised only in Northern Nigeria is false.
FactCheckAfrica’s review of the full Arise Television interview found no evidence that Obi made the statement attributed to him. His actual comments concerned spending Sallah in Sokoto and Kano and using the occasion to promote national unity. The circulating graphic therefore misrepresents Obi’s comments by attributing a statement to him that he did not make during the interview.
