PM NEWS has dismissed as fake a newspaper front page circulating widely on social media, which purports to be a 2006 edition of the publication carrying a sensational story about former Anambra State Governor and 2027 presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
The newspaper page, which has been shared across various social media platforms, carries the headline, “How I Was Cured of Madness – Peter Obi, Anambra’s Gov Gives Testimony in Church.” However, PM NEWS has categorically denied publishing the story or the version of the front page currently being circulated.
In a statement published by the newspaper on September 17, 2026, PM NEWS described the circulating image as a digitally manipulated version of one of its archival newspaper pages.
According to the newspaper, the photograph of the actual subject of the original story was removed and replaced with a photograph of Peter Obi. The name of the original subject was also allegedly altered and replaced with Peter Obi’s name, creating the impression that the former Anambra governor was the person featured in the report.
PM NEWS stressed that it never published the purported story linking Obi to a testimony about being “cured of madness.”
“The publication being circulated should therefore not be attributed to PM NEWS under any circumstance,” the newspaper said in its clarification.
Further checks by FactCheckHub also found that the newspaper clipping had been altered. According to its findings, the original PM NEWS edition dated July 17, 2006, carried the headline, “HOW I WAS CURED OF MADNESS,” but the person identified in the story was former Aviation Minister Femi Fani-Kayode, not Peter Obi. (
The fact-checking organisation reported that the original page featured Fani-Kayode’s photograph alongside the headline, while the accompanying text identified him as a minister in the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo who had given a testimony in church.
The altered version circulating online, however, substitutes Peter Obi’s photograph and changes the accompanying identification to describe him as the then Anambra State governor.
The manipulation therefore gives the appearance that the 2006 PM NEWS publication originally carried a story about Obi, when the original page identified another person.
PM NEWS has urged journalists, media organisations and members of the public to disregard the altered image and avoid reproducing or presenting it as an authentic historical publication of the newspaper.
The newspaper also said the use of its genuine masthead, date and page design does not establish the authenticity of the altered material, stressing that its archival records remain the appropriate reference for verifying past publications.
The development highlights the growing challenge posed by digitally manipulated newspaper clippings, particularly when genuine archival designs and photographs are altered to create misleading political narratives.
For readers and media organisations, the episode also underscores the importance of verifying old newspaper reports against original archives before sharing or attributing them to a particular publication.
Based on PM NEWS’s clarification and the independent findings by FactCheckHub, the circulating front page should not be treated as evidence that PM NEWS published a report claiming Peter Obi had been “cured of madness.” The version circulating online is an altered representation of an original newspaper publication.
