On February 1, 2023, a Twitter user shared a video alongside a claim that River state PDP has endorsed Peter Obi, the candidate of the Labour Party for the 2023 presidential election.
The video, which has been viewed by over 400,000 accounts at the time of this report, was shared alongside the caption: “Breaking: River state PDP endorse Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the LP”
The video has also been shared here on Facebook, where it has been viewed more than 140,000 times since February 1, 2023.
Verification
For context, Nyesom Wike, the governor of Rivers State, had said he was going to announce the presidential candidate the state chapter of his party will be supporting before the end of January.
As of the last day of January, Wike, who is not on good terms with the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, had not announced his candidate publicly.
Riding on this wave, the Twitter user, who is a known supporter of Peter Obi, shared a video, claiming Wike’s PDP had now endorsed the Labour Party candidate.
We traced the origin of the video and found that it was first posted on November 17, 2022, by news organisation, TVC. The original video, which is one hour and 33 minutes long, was posted alongside the caption “Peter Obi Joins Wike To Inaugurate Nkpolu-Oroworukwo Flyover Bridge”.
A review of the video shows the Labour Party candidate inaugurating a Flyover in the state; it does not show Rivers PDP endorsing Obi.
Wike, who is the leader of Rivers state PDP, has also invited members of other political parties to inaugurate projects in the state. In August 2022, Wike invited Femi Gbajabiamila, the speaker of the House of Representatives and a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to inaugurate a project in the state.
Verdict
The video does not show Rivers PDP endorsing the former governor of Anambra state. The video posted was when Obi went to River state to inaugurate the bridge in November 2022, it does not show an endorsement in 2023.