By Reuters Fact Check
A photo purporting to show Nigerian presidential candidate Peter Obi on the cover of the February 2023 edition of TIME magazine is fabricated, a spokesperson for the publication told Reuters.
“All eyes on Nigeria: Time for Africa’s sleeping giant to awaken,” reads the kicker on the supposed cover. Further text reads: “Peter Obi: His Labour party is favoured to win the Nigerian presidency. Are Nigerians finally ready to retire the old order and chart a new course?” (here).
Other examples of the fake cover can be viewed (here), (here), (here) and (here).
In an email to Reuters, a TIME spokesperson said: “This image is not an authentic TIME cover.”
TIME magazine keeps a public record of its previous front covers (time.com/vault/year/2023/). Reuters, however, found no cover featuring Obi in February 2023, per the publishing date on the image.
A Google keyword search for the cover did not yield any results either (/3KF8ZEQ).
TIME did publish a story on the 2023 Nigerian elections on its website, which can be viewed (here), but Reuters did not find any TIME cover dedicated to the elections.
This misinformation narrative surfaced online after Nigerians voted in presidential elections on Feb. 25. The Nigerian electoral commission has started announcing state-by-state results, Reuters reported (here).
VERDICT
Fabricated. No evidence that Nigerian presidential candidate Peter Obi featured on TIME magazine cover.