Fact-Check: Jonathan’s ₦500bn False Claim Linked to Flagged Igbo Times Magazine

 A viral social media post claimed that former President Goodluck Jonathan was offered ₦500 billion to run against Peter Obi in Nigeria’s 2027 presidential election but reportedly rejected the offer.

The post alleged that the offer was intended to split Peter Obi’s South-South support, describing him as the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate.

The post reads, “I Was Offered ₦500 Billion to Contest Against Peter Obi Just to Split His South-South Votes, But I Rejected the Offer Because Igbos Stood by Me in My Time of Need. A political storm has erupted on social media after former President Goodluck Jonathan was alleged to have revealed that he once received a staggering ₦500 billion offer to contest against Peter Obi in a bid to reduce support for the Labour Party candidate in Nigeria’s South-South region.

NDRFactcheck recently published related checks on claims that former President Goodluck Jonathan endorsed Peter Obi and was behind the creation of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), available here and here.

Goodluck Jonathan, a former President of Nigeria who served between 2011 and 2015.  And a faction of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) had pronounced him its presidential candidate in the 2027 elections. President Jonathan has not stated publicly that he is interested in contesting the elections.

However, in a press release published by Vanguard Newspaper, Dr Ikechukwu Eze, Former President Jonathan’s Special Adviser on Media, issued a statement rejecting the N500 billion report.

According to Eze, the publication was entirely false and did not meet basic journalistic standards because it failed to indicate where or when Jonathan made the alleged remarks, who witnessed them, or who supposedly made the offer. He described the report as a fabrication designed to mislead the public and drag Jonathan into political controversy.

Even though there has been controversy surrounding Goodluck Jonathan’s personality, his call to recontest has been a subject of debate for many years because he has been sworn in as president on two different occasions, with the matter in court regarding his continued eligibility.

Originator of the unverified Information

 The website behind the claim, Igbo Times Magazine, has repeatedly been linked to the publication of sensational and unverified political stories.

Findings from this verification indicate that the viral claim shared by X user @maziTundeEdnutfan on 5 July 2026 originated from an article published by Igbo Times Magazine before it was amplified on social media.

Screenshot from the X account of MaziTundeEdnut

 In our investigation, we found that DUBAWA had previously debunked a claim from March 2023 during the general election, which stated that a Russian boy hacked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) website and identified patterns of fabricated quotes, clickbait headlines, and unsupported political narratives.

Furthermore, in 2025, NDRFactcheck debunked a story on the Igbo Times Magazine Facebook page claiming that US fighter jets bombed terrorists in Kaduna State, killing Sheikh Gumi.

All these claims follow a similar pattern by attributing a controversial statement to a public figure without presenting verifiable evidence, and other corroborating news platforms here, here, here, and here

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