Monrovia – A Facebook user, Mo Lamin on July 26, 2023 posted a picture in The Darius Dillon Center for Intellectual Exchange of a man appeared to be undergoing treatment in a hospital. The poster claims that the person in the photo is the Unity Party’s Standard bearer, Joseph N. Boakai.
Fact Check By: D. Olivia Banwon | LVL Fact Checker
The Darius Dillon Center for Intellectual Exchange is a private group on Facebook with over sixty-four thousand members from various parts of the world. Before the production of this fact check report, the post had attracted 26 reactions and 108 comments.
The Claim
Mo Lamin posted: “Let’s take a moment to set aside politics and send our well wishes to Joseph Boakai as he undergoes surgery. Although he squandered opportunities, we still need to support him at this critical point. Let’s keep him in our prayers. They [are] hiding the truth but we know better.”
The post was made after Mr. Boakai party announced that he had travelled to the United States to attend the wedding ceremony of his granddaughter.
What Did We Find?
We conducted a reverse image search and found this photo to be fake. Local Voices Liberia Fact Checking desk verified the picture and found it to be manipulated.
We reached this conclusion by conducting a Reverse Image Search of the picture shared by Mo Lamin and found that the original photo was taken in Nigeria.
We found that the photograph was published by a news outlet, Vanguard News on May 18, 2022 in Nigeria of a 40-year-old man, Christian Ude, who was seeking 18 million Naira to undergo a lifesaving kidney transplant.
Conclusion
Based upon the reverse image search done of the photo, we conclude that the image was manipulated to appear like Mr. Boakai in an ailing condition and undergoing treatment.
Local Voices Liberia, in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme, has implemented the iVerify Liberia system with the objective of strengthening capacities to address threats to information integrity, especially in view of the upcoming 2023 elections, to ensure all Liberian citizens have access to credible, reliable and verified information, everywhere and at all times.
This initiative is funded by Irish Aid, Embassy of Sweden in Monrovia, European Union Delegation in Liberia and the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund. The donors have no say in the production of this fact check report.
