By Daniel Otera

A viral claim circulating on social media suggests that Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate in Nigeria’s 2023 general elections, achieved a historic political milestone by securing over six million votes without the support of a single sitting state governor from his party. The claim, originally posted on 3 July 2025 by X user @MaziGomez_, reads:

“What Peter Obi did in 2023 elections, no Nigerian politician living or dead has ever done it. 6 million votes (after deductions from INEC) without a sitting Governor. I can boldly say that Obi is the greatest politician ever in the history of Nigeria. 2027 we go again.”

The post, viewed over 34,000 times, continues to stir political debate online. Grassroots Check subjected the central components of the claim to rigorous verification using official electoral data, historical precedents, and Nigeria’s state governance records.

Did Peter Obi Receive Over Six Million Votes in 2023?

Yes. Verified results from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) confirm that Peter Obi polled a total of 6,101,533 votes in the 25 February 2023 presidential election. This placed him third behind Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who secured 8,794,726 votes, and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who garnered 6,984,520 votes. The official figures are available via INEC’s result portal and corroborated by both local and international media coverage.

Was He Backed by Any Sitting Governor from His Party?

No. At the time of the 2023 presidential election, the Labour Party had no sitting governors across Nigeria’s 36 states. Verified governance records show that the APC, PDP, and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) held all gubernatorial seats.

Even in Obi’s home state, Anambra, governance was controlled by Professor Charles Soludo of APGA, who not only belonged to a different party but also publicly criticised Obi’s campaign. Soludo described it as lacking “structure” and “a realistic pathway to victory” (Punch, 2022).

Independent reporting by Punch, Nigerian Queries, and archived electoral databases confirm that the Labour Party did not control any state government during the presidential election. The only governorship seat won by Labour Abia State, through Alex Otti came after the general elections, in the 18 March 2023 gubernatorial polls.

Given these facts, Grassroots Check finds that Peter Obi’s performance securing over six million votes without the structural backing of any sitting governor was accurate and unprecedented for a third-party candidate in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic. His campaign drew strength from youth mobilisation, diaspora engagement, civil society participation, and digital organising, rather than traditional political machinery or incumbency.

Has Any Other Candidate Achieved This Before?

Yes. Grassroots Check’s archival analysis revealed a significant precedent. During the 2011 presidential election, Muhammadu Buhari, running under the now-defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), secured 12,214,853 votes nearly double Obi’s 2023 tally without the support of a single sitting governor.

At the time, CPC had no governors in power. Buhari’s campaign was driven by grassroots support, especially across northern states, and sustained personal popularity. According to INEC-certified results from April 2011, Buhari came second behind then-incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP (22,495,187 votes), while Nuhu Ribadu of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) came third with 2,079,151 votes.

These verified records establish that Buhari, like Obi, achieved a high vote count without governor-level support but to an even greater numerical extent. The CPC’s outsider status in 2011 was similar to that of the Labour Party in 2023.

Is Peter Obi the First to Do This?

No, not in terms of vote volume or institutional independence. However, yes, if one narrows the context to the digital age and third-party insurgency. Unlike Buhari who had a long-established national profile, a regional support base, and multiple presidential bids Obi entered the race under the Labour Party, a party with no strong federal history. His movement grew in under a year and relied almost entirely on volunteer-driven structures and digital momentum.

A 2023 Wired feature described the Labour campaign as “a movement powered by volunteers and viral tweets” rather than conventional party systems. Similarly, Foreign Policy observed that Obi’s rise marked “an unprecedented digital and grassroots insurgency in Nigeria’s political history,” contrasting with the elite and governor-backed campaigns that previously defined national elections.

Conclusion and Verdict

Grassroots Check finds that the viral claim about Peter Obi contains both true and false components.

TRUE: Peter Obi secured over six million votes in the 2023 presidential election without the support of any sitting governor from his party. The Labour Party had no governors at the time of the election, as confirmed by INEC records and independent media reports.

FALSE: The assertion that no politician living or dead has ever done this is inaccurate. Muhammadu Buhari accomplished a similar, and numerically greater, feat in 2011 under the CPC, which had no governors then either.

While Obi’s performance was historic and disruptive in terms of third-party mobilisation and digital strategy, it was not the first instance of a candidate achieving over six million votes without governor-level institutional backing.