FACT-CHECK: Purported PM NEWS Front Page Claiming Tinubu Admitted Drug Abuse, Trafficking Is FALSE

By: Peter Emmanuel

CLAIM

A Facebook post shared by Pascal Omokhehieme features an image presented as a front page of P.M. NEWS, dated Monday, May 17, 1999.

The purported front page carries the headline, “How I Became a Drug Abuser & Traficker — Gov Tinubu of Lagos State,” and claims that Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who was presented as Governor of Lagos State, granted an interview in which he confessed to drug abuse and trafficking.

The image also describes Tinubu as the “national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC)” and presents the publication as P.M. NEWS, Vol. 1 No. 12.

The post had attracted 23 likes, 14 comments and nine reshares at the time of this report.

VERIFICATION

DNN FactCheck reviewed the purported newspaper front page, the Facebook post, the response issued by P.M. NEWS, historical records relating to Tinubu’s political career and reports concerning the separate U.S. legal proceedings connected to allegations about his past.

P.M. NEWS Disowns the Publication

On September 19, 2026, P.M. NEWS warned politicians, political parties, supporters and other individuals against using its name and brand to create and circulate fabricated political content.

The newspaper specifically addressed the purported front page carrying the headline “How I Became a Drug Abuser & Trafficker” and attributed to Tinubu.

P.M. NEWS stated that the purported front page, including the Tinubu story, headline, photographs, text and newspaper presentation, was entirely fabricated and did not represent any genuine edition or publication of the newspaper.

The newspaper further stated that it never published the alleged interview or the claim that Tinubu admitted to being a drug abuser and trafficker in its archives.

P.M. NEWS urged members of the public to disregard the material and warned that it would take appropriate legal action against individuals who deliberately use its name, logo or identity to create and circulate fabricated publications.

APC Reference Contains a Historical Error

DNN FactCheck also examined the political description contained in the purported publication.

The image describes Tinubu as the “national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC)” even though the publication is dated May 17, 1999.

The APC did not exist in 1999. The party was formed in 2013 through a merger of several opposition parties.

A The Guardian Nigeria report on Tinubu’s political timeline also places the formation of the APC more than a decade after Tinubu’s first term as Lagos State governor.

The reference to Tinubu as an APC leader in a publication supposedly produced in May 1999 is therefore historically impossible.

Tinubu Was Not Yet Governor on May 17, 1999

DNN FactCheck further examined the description of Tinubu as “Gov Tinubu of Lagos State.”

According to The Guardian Nigeria, Tinubu was elected Governor of Lagos State in January 1999 and subsequently assumed office on May 29, 1999.

This means that on May 17, 1999, the date printed on the purported P.M. NEWS front page, Tinubu had won the governorship election but had not yet been sworn in as Governor of Lagos State.

An archived P.M. NEWS record also provides historical context on Tinubu’s emergence in the 1999 Lagos governorship election.

The use of the title “Gov Tinubu of Lagos State” on a publication dated May 17, 1999 therefore presents another inconsistency in the purported newspaper page.

The Alleged Drug Case Requires Context

DNN FactCheck also examined the separate historical issue involving allegations concerning Tinubu and drug-related activities in the United States, as this context is relevant to the claim being circulated.

The existence of a historical U.S. legal matter does not establish that Tinubu gave the alleged interview or confessed to drug abuse and trafficking, as claimed by the purported P.M. NEWS front page.

Reports on the matter show that a 1993 U.S. civil forfeiture proceeding involved funds linked to Tinubu. The case has subsequently been referenced in ongoing litigation over access to U.S. government records.

On September 3, 2026, Voice of Nigeria reported the Presidency’s clarification that the current U.S. Freedom of Information Act case is a civil records-disclosure dispute and not a criminal case against Tinubu.

The Presidency, through Special Adviser on Information and Strategy Bayo Onanuga, said the U.S. court had not found Tinubu guilty of criminal wrongdoing. It also stated that the release or withholding of records under FOIA does not by itself establish criminal liability.

Similarly, The Guardian Nigeria reported on September 4 that the Presidency described the U.S. proceedings as a civil dispute over access to government records.

The Guardian also reported that the historical matter involved the civil forfeiture of funds by Tinubu to the U.S. government in 1993 while he was being investigated for alleged drug-related offences.

DNN FactCheck found no evidence in the sources reviewed that establishes that Tinubu was criminally convicted for drug trafficking or that he granted the interview presented in the purported P.M. NEWS front page.

This distinction is important because the existence of a civil forfeiture proceeding or allegations contained in historical records cannot be presented as proof that Tinubu confessed to drug abuse and trafficking in a P.M. NEWS interview.

The Purported Interview Has No P.M. NEWS Record

DNN FactCheck found no evidence establishing that P.M. NEWS published an interview in which Tinubu confessed to drug abuse and trafficking.

More importantly, P.M. NEWS itself has directly denied publishing the alleged interview and identified the purported front page as fabricated.

The newspaper stated that the alleged Tinubu story was not contained in its archival publications.

The use of the newspaper’s masthead, date, photographs and page layout therefore does not establish that the material is an authentic P.M. NEWS edition.

Typographical and Presentation Issues

DNN FactCheck also observed inconsistencies in the presentation of the purported front page.

The headline spells “Trafficker” as “Traficker,” omitting one of the letters “f.”

A spelling error alone cannot establish that a newspaper page is fabricated. However, it becomes relevant when considered alongside P.M. NEWS’s direct denial and the historical inconsistencies found in the document.

P.M. NEWS itself has identified the purported page as AI-generated. DNN FactCheck therefore relies primarily on the newspaper’s direct denial and the documented historical inconsistencies rather than visual characteristics alone.

WHAT WE FOUND

DNN FactCheck found that the purported P.M. NEWS front page carrying the headline “How I Became a Drug Abuser & Traficker” is not an authentic publication of the newspaper.

P.M. NEWS’s September 19 statement expressly disowned the material and stated that the entire purported page was AI-generated.

DNN FactCheck also found a major historical inconsistency in the document’s reference to the All Progressives Congress. The APC was not formed until 2013, making its description of Tinubu as an APC leader in a purported May 17, 1999 edition historically impossible.

The description of Tinubu as “Gov Tinubu of Lagos State” is also inconsistent with the timeline. He was elected governor in January 1999 but did not assume office until May 29, 1999.

DNN FactCheck further found that there was a separate historical U.S. civil forfeiture matter involving funds linked to Tinubu in 1993. However, that matter should not be conflated with the fabricated P.M. NEWS interview.

The current FOIA proceedings concerning access to U.S. government records have been described by the Presidency as a civil records-disclosure dispute, and the court has not found Tinubu guilty of criminal wrongdoing in that case.

DNN FactCheck found no credible evidence that P.M. NEWS published an interview in which Tinubu confessed to drug abuse and trafficking.

The historical U.S. matter therefore does not authenticate the purported newspaper page or establish the claim attributed to Tinubu in the fabricated publication.

CONCLUSION

The purported May 17, 1999 P.M. NEWS front page claiming that Tinubu admitted to drug abuse and trafficking is not genuine.

P.M. NEWS has expressly denied publishing the material and identified the purported page as an AI-generated fabrication.

The document also contains historical inconsistencies, including its reference to the APC, which did not exist in 1999, and its description of Tinubu as Governor of Lagos State before he assumed office on May 29, 1999.

Although there was a separate 1993 U.S. civil forfeiture proceeding involving funds linked to Tinubu, the existence of that matter does not establish that he gave the alleged P.M. NEWS interview or confessed to drug abuse and trafficking.

DNN FactCheck therefore found no credible basis for presenting the purported image as a genuine P.M. NEWS publication or as evidence of such a confession.

VERDICT

FALSE

The claim that P.M. NEWS published a May 17, 1999 front page in which Tinubu admitted to drug abuse and trafficking is FALSE.

P.M. NEWS has denied publishing the material and identified it as an AI-generated fabrication. The purported page also contains historical inconsistencies that contradict its claim to be a genuine 1999 edition.