Fact-Check: Presidential Aide on Social Media Dada Olusegun’s Photo Comparison of Water Transport Under Obi vs Sanwo-Olu is Misleading

BY: Mustapha Lawal 

Claim:
A viral post by presidential aide Dada Olusegun claims to compare water transportation under former Anambra governor Peter Obi and current Lagos governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu using two photos as evidence.

Verdict:
Misleading! The image used to depict water transportation under Peter Obi is from 2022, eight years after he left office, and not a representation of his tenure as Anambra governor.

Full Text

On April 24, 2025, Dada Olusegun, special assistant on social media to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, shared a side-by-side photo comparison on his X (formerly Twitter) handle with the caption: “Water transportation in Anambra under Obi Vs Water Transportation in Lagos under @jidesanwoolu.”

screenshot of misleading claim

The post, which quickly gained viral traction, was intended to contrast governance and infrastructure development between Peter Obi, former governor of Anambra State (June 2007 to March 2014), and Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the current two-term governor of Lagos State.

The image allegedly representing Anambra under Obi shows a man paddling a wooden canoe through floodwaters, while the Lagos image features a modern water bus operated by Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA). 

The post, amplified by multiple blogs including Tori.ng, aims to paint a stark contrast between the governance styles of the two political figures.

It also came amid a broader political back-and-forth. Just days earlier, Peter Obi delivered a lecture at Johns Hopkins University where he criticized Nigeria’s deepening poverty, contrasting it with progress in countries like China and Vietnam. Governor Sanwo-Olu responded through his media team, accusing Obi of painting Nigeria in a bad light abroad and defending his administration’s economic reforms and successes in Lagos and under Tinubu’s leadership.

Verification

FactCheckAfrica conducted a Google reverse image search on the photo tagged as representing Peter Obi’s governance in Anambra. Results showed that the image was taken in October 2022, eight years after Obi left office. 

The photo shows Obi visiting Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) affected by floods at Umueri Unity Hall in Anambra. He shared the image on his verified X handle on October 22, 2022, stating:

“I visited the victims of flood at Umueri Unity Hall where the IDPs are camped. I came to ascertain the level of damage and to show solidarity with the victims.”

Further, several credible media reports at the time, including Premium Times, confirmed the visit and shared the same photo.

Thus, the image was wrongly attributed to Obi’s tenure as governor. In contrast, the photo used to show Lagos under Sanwo-Olu does feature a functioning water transport system introduced during his administration as part of efforts to ease traffic and improve public transportation via LASWA.

However, comparing the two photos, one from a natural disaster site and the other from a transportation program, without context is misleading.

Conclusion

The claim that the viral photo comparison accurately depicts water transportation under Peter Obi and Babajide Sanwo-Olu is misleading. The photo of Obi is from 2022 and shows him visiting flood victims, not an example of water transportation during his time in office. Misattributing images to distort public perception is a recurring misinformation tactic on social media.