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Claim: Different Facebook users shared a picture of a collapsed flyover, claiming it was from a N16bn-worth flyover recently commissioned in Lafia, Nasarawa State.
Verdict: FALSE. The viral image was a collage of keyframes from an Artificial Intelligence-generated video. The recently commissioned flyover in Lafia is still standing.
Full Text
Bola Tinubu, Nigeria’s president, commissioned a one-kilometre-long flyover and underpass at Lafia, Nasarawa State, on June 25, 2025. The state government, led by Abdullahi Sule, has executed various infrastructure projects, among others.
However, different Facebook users claimed that the flyover had collapsed barely weeks after it was commissioned. The viral image showed a flyover in severe condition, and the captions stated that it cost N10 billion.
Amaka Ohaneje claimed that the flyover in Keffi collapsed after a truck crashed into its pillar. On July 24, 2025, her claim gained 31 reactions, 36 comments, and six reshares in three hours.
Tori4town9ja, a verified Facebook page, claimed that the incident occurred in Lafia on July 23, 2025, and that the flyover cost N10 billion. As of July 24, 2025, the claim received 29 reactions, 43 comments, and six reshares.
Other users shared the claim here, here, here, and here.
Comments found across some of the posts indicated conflicting opinions.
Among users who believed the claim, Mohammed Yau wrote, “The engineer cum contractor must be brought to book.”
Another user, Nuhu Ibrahim, wrote, “Gov. A. A Sule is a failure.”
However, some comments urged people to verify the claim. Essien Sunday wrote, “Please verify this news or retract this AI trick. Residents of Lafia dispute this.”
Yakubu Mohammed, who claimed his family’s house is a five-minute walk from the flyover, said the claim is false. “If you look well, you will know it is AI, and the vehicle plates don’t look Nigerian,” he said.
The claim’s implication for the current government’s reputation and the conflicting comments prompted DUBAWA to conduct the fact-check.
Verification
We first observed that the image’s quality didn’t appear to be taken in Nigeria.
We conducted a reverse image search of the viral image using Google Lens to identify its source. DUBAWA found a Facebook user, Eu Amo games, who shared a 5-second video of the supposed incident on July 15. In the post’s caption, the user stated that the video was created using Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Although none of the deepfake detection tools we used, such as Deepware or IsItAI, confirmed that the video was AI-generated, DUBAWA observed several inconsistencies, validating our findings.
For instance, humans and vehicles were moving towards the flyover instead of farther from it, an unnatural action in the depicted situation. Additionally, individuals merged into one another at some point. The body shape of the only figure running away from the video awkwardly changed as it moved.
James Aparshe, a journalist from Nasarawa State, also disclosed that the image did not originate from Lafia.
Meanwhile, credible media organisations reported that the Lafia flyover cost N16 billion, not N10 billion as stated in the claims. It differed from the grade-separated junction at Keffi, which partially collapsed on July 18, 2025. The Keffi flyover was part of the Abuja-Mararaba-Keffi road reconstruction project, which commenced on December 20, 2023. The collapse occurred after a truck carrying an oversized container rammed into the structure.
Conclusion
DUBAWA’s findings revealed that the viral image was a collage of keyframes from an AI-generated video. Contrary to the viral claim, the recently commissioned Lafia flyover did not collapse.
