On November 15, a Facebook user and a supporter of the Unity Party, Pretty Xandra posted a claim that Ambassador Joseph Boakai, the opposition candidate of Unity, has been given additional security detail.
The Claim
She claimed: “Latest from a Reliable source! JNB security details have changed, including two brand new police Siren vehicles, one in the front and one in the back. God is great.” Her post attracted 92 reactions and 58 comments.
Also, a pro-Unity Party Facebook blog, The Rescue Train, posted the same claim in Fries FM. It received 234 reactions and 116 comments.
The claim surfaced following the National Elections Commission’s announcement of preliminary results, where opposition Unity Party’s candidate, Joseph Boakai is in the lead with 50.71% of the votes ahead of incumbent President, George Weah who has 49.29% in the Presidential runoff election.
Claim: “Latest from a Reliable source! JNB security details have changed, including two brand new police Siren vehicles, one in the front and one in the back. God is great.”
Verdict: Misleading
Rating Justification
To verify this claim, we first checked the Facebook pages and websites of the Ministry of Justice and the Liberia National Police but did not find any statement in relation to the claim.
To further authenticate the claim, we contacted the Minister of Justice, Cllr. Frank Musa Dean, via WhatsApp. In his response to our our WhatsApp message, Minister Dean said the claim is “not true”.
We also also contacted the head of the communications of the Liberia National Police Moses Carter via phone. Carter also said that the claim is false.
Conclusion
Therefore, based on the responses from these authorities, we conclude that the claim about Joseph Boakai’s security detail has been upgraded with two and new police vehicles is misleading.
This report was developed with the support of Internews through the USAID Media Activity project. The funder has no say in the editorial decision leading to the production of this content.