Claim: A Facebook post by Salone Political Watch claims the first lady, Fatima Bio, was at some point a card-bearing member of the All People’s Congress (APC). The post included pictures of a membership card purported to be Fatima Bio’s.
Verdict: False. The APC has denied ever having records showing that Fatima Bio was a party member. DUBAWA’s verification found no credible evidence supporting the claim.
Full Text
A social media post circulating on Facebook alleges that Sierra Leone’s First Lady, Fatima Bio, was formerly a registered APC member and even held an APC membership card. The post includes photographs purportedly showing her holding an APC membership card and presents them as proof of her previous affiliation with the opposition party. The same post was made by the claimant here, here, and here.
The claim has attracted significant attention online amid ongoing political discussions in Sierra Leone.
DUBAWA decided to investigate due to the potential to mislead.
Verification
To verify the claim, DUBAWA contacted the National Publicity Secretary of the All People’s Congress (APC), Mr Sidi Yayah Tunis, requesting confirmation on whether Fatima Jabbie had ever been registered as a member of the party. He indicated that Fatima Bio had been registered as a party member.
Responding to DUBAWA’s inquiry, Mr Tunis dismissed the claim, stating:
“This is malicious and misleading. We have no record of Fatima Bio ever being an APC member. On who took her to London, that is none of the APC’s business.”
This official response directly contradicts the social media claim.
DUBAWA also subjected the photo uploaded by the claimant to an EXIF analysis.
Screenshot of the EXIF analysis of the photo uploaded by the claimant
This photo is missing the usual details you’d expect from an original camera photo. There’s no camera info, date, location, or other technical data, just basic tags like size and colour. That means the file was processed before being uploaded, even though it was posted as having been taken in London. Because the EXIF data is missing and no original camera data exists to verify it, DUBAWA’s final analysis is that the image was photoshopped.
DUBAWA further reached out to the claimant to provide proof of his claim, but the claimant did not provide any.
Conclusion
DUBAWA found no credible evidence that Fatima Jabbie (Fatima Maada Bio) was ever a registered member of the APC. The APC’s National Publicity Secretary has categorically stated that the party has no record of her membership, thus rendering the viral claim false.