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CLAIM: A viral WhatsApp image claims that the WAEC office is on fire, showing a burning structure in front of a building with the WAEC logo.
VERDICT: False! The image is AI-generated (99.49%), and WAEC’s Public Affairs Officer confirmed that no fire incident occurred in any WAEC office.
FULL TEXT
A picture circulating on WhatsApp shows a building labelled “WAEC” with flames engulfing a small structure at the entrance. The image is shared with captions suggesting a fire at a WAEC office.
The picture has raised concerns among students and parents, as WAEC is currently preparing for the ongoing examinations across its member countries.
DUBAWA investigated the claim to determine whether any WAEC office in Sierra Leone or within the wider WAEC sub-region had experienced a fire.
VERIFICATION
DUBAWA subjected the viral image to forensic analysis using Reversely.ai. The result showed a 99.49% likelihood that the image is AI-generated, rather than a real photograph. Model detection revealed traces of ChatGPT (26.5%), Midjourney (22.2%), Adobe Firefly (21.4%), and DALL·E (16%), all of which are standard generative AI systems.
Screenshots of the AI analysis.
These results strongly suggest that the “burning WAEC building” is digitally fabricated, not an authentic scene.
To further verify the claim, DUBAWA contacted the Public Affairs Officer of WAEC, Mr Sallieu M. Kamara, for an official statement.
His response: “There was no fire in any of WAEC’s offices in all member countries.”
This confirms that the Council did not experience any fire incident, not in Sierra Leone, Ghana, Liberia, The Gambia, or Nigeria.
CONCLUSION
The viral image alleging that a WAEC office was engulfed by fire is false. The picture is AI-generated, and WAEC’s Public Affairs Officer has officially confirmed that no fire incident occurred in any of the Council’s offices across its member states.
