Viral social media posts claim “APC Thugs and Supporters are busy destroying the Roads in the North because of White Paper and because Ali Baba and his thieves will be facing ACC…”
False. A Google Reverse Image Search of the image attached to the message shows the incident happened in South Africa and not Sierra Leone as suggested.
FULL TEXT
A photo showing some people destroying a tarred road with a pickaxe has been circulating on social media in Sierra Leone.
It is accompanied by the texts: ‘APC thugs and supporters are busy destroying the roads in the north because of the white paper and also because Ali baba and his thieves will be facing ACC . Den say becoz Na den chairman for life build d road den . APC nor good for Salone’
This follows the release of the Government’s Commission of Enquiry White Paper in which past government officials including the erstwhile president, Ernest Bai Koroma, have been found wanting of corrupt practices and gross misappropriation of public funds during the two term rule of the now opposition All People’s Congress party (APC).
The caption on the photo also indicated that APC Thugs are destroying tarred roads in the Northern part of the country because they were constructed by “chairman for life”, implicitly referring to the former president who has been chairman of the APC party for a while now and was made so by party members.
The photo has been seen making rounds following the response of former president Koroma to the White Paper via a Press Release; and his invitation to appear before the country’s Anti-Corruption Commission on Monday October 5th 2020.
VERIFICATION
Considering the rate at which such an image can easily be circulated and its propensity to ignite tension in the region and country as a whole, Dubawa immediately embarked on fact-checking the image circulating with the claim of APC Thugs destroying roads in the North.
After thorough scrutiny using the tools at our disposal, we found out that the image is from an incident that happened in a place called Pomeroy, Kwazulu-Natal in South Africa in September. It was a service delivery protest organized by residents of the area relating to frustrations over lack of access to water and electricity.
CONCLUSION
Dubawa as a reputable fact-checking organization has done the necessary investigations on the image and we conclude that the claim is false. The incident did not occur in Sierra Leone and is unrelated to recent happenings in the country.
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