| schema:text
| - FOLLOWING the reported cancellation of his 62nd birthday celebration, a claim that Peter Obi celebrated his 50th birthday in 2013 has circulated online.
The claim is circulating alongside a screen grab of a report published by The Nation newspaper on July 19, 2013, which reads: “Why I’ll not celebrate my 50th birthday, by Obi.”
Obi is the candidate of the Labour Party in Nigeria’s 2023 Presidential Election held in February.
READ : Doctored images of Obi, Abati, others at Lagos blue line rail inauguration circulate online
A Twitter user with the Twitter Blue tick, @StFreakingKezy tweeted the claim with a caption that read:
“Happy Birthday in advance to Mr Peter Obi the presidential candidate of the Labour Party Many happy returns. 2013: 50 years old. 2023: 62 years old. Abeg @U_Rochas which one should we believe now????”
The tweet has garnered over 300,000 views, more than 300 retweets and over 900 likes as of July 20, 2023.
Another Twitter user, @PastorMarvy, tweeted the claim with a caption which read:
“50 years in 2013. 62 years in 2023. How old is Peter “Barry Allen” Obi? Because this story no clear.”
The tweet has garnered more than 53,000 views, over 100 retweets and more than 260 likes as of July 20, 2023.
Similarly, another Twitter user with the Twitter Blue tick, @scarfizal also tweeted the claim with another caption thus:
“ In 2013, Peter Obi celebrated 50 years in 2023. Peter Obi is celebrating 62 years, yet his online Zombidiots always want to project the fraudulent ways of their principal on Tinubu. Peter Obi is a fraud yesterday today and tomorrow.”
CLAIM
Peter Obi celebrated his 50th birthday in 2013.
BACKGROUND
On Monday, July 17, 2023, Peter Obi via his verified Twitter announced that he would not be celebrating his 62nd birthday due to the deplorable state of the country.
He tweeted: “Wednesday 19th July 2023, marks my 62nd Birthday. While I remain immensely grateful to God for His infinite mercies, I still maintain my decision of over 20 years, that I will not celebrate my birthdays in today’s Nigeria, with the current deplorable state of the nation. However, some friends, members of the Labour Party, and OBIdient Family and supporters have asked how they can join me in celebrating that day, and even present some gifts.”
Following the announcement, some Nigerian Twitter users dug out a news report published by The Nation newspaper quoting Obi to have said he would not be celebrating his 50th in 2013. This suggests that he is 60-year-old and not 62 as he has claimed this year.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that Peter Obi’s age is currently 62-year-old.
According to information uploaded on the Labour Party’s website, Peter Obi was born on July 19, 1961. This makes him 62-year-old in 2023 and 52 in 2013. This tallies with his profile published by Daily Trust in 2018 and his record published by Legit.ng in January, 2023.
Similarly, Obi was reported to be 61 years old last year, according to his official records for the Nigerian presidential election published by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in September 2022.
Checks by The FactCheckHub revealed that it is not only The Nation that reported that Obi clocked 50 in 2013. Some online platforms such as Ynaija, and Information.ng also reported the same information ten years ago.
The Punch also reported that Obi turned 50 in 2013 in a now-deleted post obtained through Wayback Machine, a digital service that allows people to visit archived versions of web links.
Further findings also led our researcher to a publication by All Africa credited to Vanguard two years earlier before 2013 which wrongly reported that Obi celebrated his 50th birthday in 2011.
Meanwhile, a media outfit, CKN News reported in 2013 that Obi was 52 at the time.
THE VERDICT
The claim that Peter Obi was 50 in 2013 is FALSE; multiple media reports and INEC record show that Peter Obi was born on July 19, 1961. Thus, he was 52 years old in 2013 and currently, he is 62 years old in 2023.
Nurudeen Akewushola is a fact-checker with FactCheckHub. He has authored several fact checks which have contributed to the fight against information disorder. You can reach him via [email protected] and @NurudeenAkewus1 via Twitter.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)