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Claim: A Facebook user claims an unknown body was found behind the residential facility of the Liberian President, Joseph Boakai.
Verdict: False! The Liberia National Police has described the incident as “false”. A further check by DUBAWA using Google Reverse Image Search tools showed the corpse was that of a 20-year-old Nigerian lady found in the Enugu metropolis in 2021.
Full Text
A Facebook user, on March 29, 2024, shared a picture of a corpse, claiming it was found behind the home of Liberian President Joseph Nyuma Boakai.
“An unknown body was found behind the President of Liberia’s house. Guys what’s really going on??” he quizzed.
As of April 3, 2024, available data on the social media platform shows that the post has received 48 comments and 25 reactions.
DUBAWA decided to probe the claim as part of its campaign against misinformation and disinformation in Liberia.
Verification
DUBAWA first contacted the spokesperson of the Liberia National Police (LNP), Moses Carter, who denied the purported lifeless body was found anywhere near the President’s house.
“When we heard about the rumour, we (LNP) immediately dispatched a team from the Zone 8 Police Depot in the Rehab community to authenticate the claim.
“[However], the team from the zone 8 Police Deport reported to our headquarters that there was nobody at the location as speculated,” he told DUBAWA.
A Google keyword search conducted by DUBAWA showed no reputable media organisation in Liberia reported about the purported corpse found around the residential facility of President Boakai.
DUBAWA, therefore, used verification tools such as Google Reverse Image Search, TinEye, Yandex and Bing to check the veracity of the image shared by the Facebook user.
The image verification tools revealed the body was that of a 20-year-old Nigerian lady called Precious Chiamaka Orji Gold, who was found dead in 2021 along the Presidential Road, Independence Layout, inside Enugu metropolis in Nigeria.
The Guardian of Nigeria, BBC, and the Punch of Nigeria, among others, reported the story in 2021.
DUBAWA later contacted the Facebook user to find out where he got the claim from, but he has not responded to the inquiry.
Conclusion
It is, therefore, not true that a corpse was found behind the house of Liberian President, Joseph Boakai. The lifeless body was that of a Nigerian student found in Enugu in 2021.
The researcher produced this fact-check under the DUBAWA 2024 Kwame KariKari Fellowship, in partnership with Radio Gbarnga, FM 96.5 MHz, to facilitate the spirit of “truth” in journalism and enhance media literacy.
