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Claim: The newly constructed roundabout is not in Aba
Verdict: Our findings from newspaper reports, Google Earth, and the Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation revealed that the structure is Emelogu Road in Aba.
Full Text
Abia State, a place in the southeast region of Nigeria, has begun to witness tremendous transformations and rehabilitations in both her social and infrastructural developments thanks to her newly elected governor, Alex Otti. Mr Otti won the state’s top political seat on the Labour Party (LP) platform in the March 18, 2023 gubernatorial elections.
In light of these developments, a Facebook user, who identifies as Igbo Times Magazine, expressed doubts about the pictorial representation of one of the towns, Aba, where rehabilitation occurred.
“This road can never be Aba. We bet with our left head this cannot be Aba.” Part of the claim read.
The post attracted 589 reactions, including 389 comments, and was shared 28 times as of Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2023.
It was observed that a good number of online users disagreed with the post.
“That’s Emelogu Road! Otti is the messiah of Aba,” Promise Prince Emmanuel wrote.
“This is 100% Aba,” Clement Goodluck also wrote.
Due to the controversy generated by the post, DUBAWA decided to fact-check the claim.
Verification
We made a keyword search on some of the roads newly constructed by Governor Otti and came across a Vanguard newspaper report. The report names Emelogu, Shalom, and Cemetery roads as the projects recently commissioned by the governor.
Further searches linked us to a New Telegraph report mentioning that all three roads are in Aba. It also added a picture of a road roundabout quite similar to the one posted by the claimant.
Consequently, we conducted a geolocation search on Google Earth with the names of the roads reported in the paper. We could link the said road’s location with Emelogu Road, Aba. The satellite image provided by Google Earth shows a similar road structure to that of the image in question.
Also, the Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation published a report informing on the newly constructed roads commissioned by Governor Otti, including Emelogu, Shallom, and Cemetery roads. The pictures presented in the publication, include an improved rehabilitation of a road roundabout similar to the one portrayed by Google Earth.
Conclusion
The claim is false. Findings from newspaper reports, Google Earth, and the Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation identify the Emelogu road in Aba.
