fact-check: Did Peter Obi demolish a mosque in Anambra and chased out Northerners when he was governor?

A Twitter user, Qudus Akanbi Eleyi, made a post claiming that Peter Obi had ordered the demolition of a mosque and chased out Hausa, Fulani, and other northerners from Anambra State when he was the state governor with unrelated photos that are misleading. The post stated that “Northerners will never forget Peter Obi for demolishing […]

A Twitter user, Qudus Akanbi Eleyi, made a post claiming that Peter Obi had ordered the demolition of a mosque and chased out Hausa, Fulani, and other northerners from Anambra State when he was the state governor with unrelated photos that are misleading.

The post stated that “Northerners will never forget Peter Obi for demolishing their mosque in Anambra. When he was a governor, Hausa, Fulani and northerners can forgive Peter Obi for pursuing them out of Anambra, but I’m not sure if they can forgive him for demolishing their mosque. They will never 4give.”

Since his emergence in the 2023 presidential race as the Labour Party’s candidate, Peter Obi has attracted so much attention on social media from both supporters and critics across the country.

This particular tweet attracted a massive reaction as it was about religion and some selected ethnic groups, and it recalled that there was indeed a demolition in Onitsha, a city in Anambra State.

Verification: A fact check by Daily Trust revealed that the pictures attached to the claim were misleading. However, the news that Obi had demolished a mosque while he was governor is true.

The Daily Trust carried out a Google reverse image search to verify the images and found that one of the images was that of the Omar Ibn Abdul-Aziz Mosque that was destroyed in North Gaza in 2009 during the Israel-Palestine conflict.

The second image was captured by a social action website during a visit to the Obadianso Waterside community in Port Harcourt following a demolition by the Rivers State government in 2018.

The third image was traced to an arrest made by the Abuja Police Command in which 98 scavengers were arrested in Abuja, while the last picture was traced to an alleged demolition by Nyesom Wike in Port Harcourt in 2019, a claim he has denied.

However, in 2012, Peter Obi ordered the demolition of a central mosque in Onitsha when he was governor. That caused a protest by Muslims in the community. The leader of the Muslim community, Alhaji Habib Faruk, told a newspaper, not the Daily Trust, that “We have already complied with the state government’s decision to beautify the Bridgehead and Upper Iweka axis by removing all our shops as directed.”

He added that “the demolished mosque did not fall within the area marked for demolition.”

Alhaji Habib was reported to have also said the action of the state government might not be unconnected with the current activities of Boko Haram in the northern part of the country.

“We are not resisting the decision of the state government to beautify the Bridgehead, but the plan to demolish our place of worship is more political and could result in the breakdown of law and order because no Muslim would stand by and watch their place of worship being demolished for no just cause,” he said.

Conclusion: Daily Trust can confirm that the pictures attached side by side with Peter Obi’s in the Twitter post were misleading.

However, in 2012, the Nation newspaper, among others, carried the news of the demolition of a central mosque in Onitsha, which was ordered by Peter Obi when he was governor of the state.

This Factcheck is produced in partnership with the Centre for Democracy and Development.