Lagos — P.M. News has formally declared as fake a newspaper front page circulating widely on social media that purports to be its 17 July 2006 edition and carries the sensational headline “How I Was Cured Of Madness” alongside a photograph of then-Anambra State Governor Peter Obi.
In a statement published on its website on 17 September 2026, the newspaper’s editor, Kazeem Ugbodaga, said the image “is not an authentic publication of PM NEWS” and that “the image has been digitally altered.”
According to the statement, the photograph of the actual subject of the original story was replaced with a photograph of Peter Obi, and the original name on the newspaper’s rider was also replaced with Obi’s name.
“Most importantly, PM NEWS never published the purported story titled ‘How I Was Cured of Madness – Peter Obi, Anambra’s Gov Gives Testimony in Church’,” the statement continued. “The publication being circulated should therefore not be attributed to PM NEWS under any circumstance.”
The newspaper described the manipulation as designed “to make the fabricated material look like an authentic historical edition,” noting that the use of its masthead, date and page design does not make the altered material genuine. It warned that any claim that P.M. News reported such a story in that edition is false.
The fake front page also features other elements typical of the period’s P.M. News layout, including a secondary story about a missing pupil and lottery results, but these do not authenticate the central claim about Obi.
No independent archival evidence, contemporaneous reporting from other Nigerian newspapers, or records from Obi’s early governorship (he assumed office in March 2006 following a court decision) support the existence of any such testimony or medical claim.
The circulating image appears timed to political discussion in Nigeria ahead of the 2027 elections. P.M. News has urged the public not to attribute the fabricated material to it.
Peter Obi, who later served two terms as Anambra governor and has been a prominent presidential contender, has not publicly addressed this specific fake in the immediate aftermath of the newspaper’s statement. No verified historical record exists of him claiming to have been cured of madness or giving related testimony in church in 2006.
The episode underscores ongoing challenges with digitally manipulated historical documents on social media and the importance of primary-source verification from the publications themselves.
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