Claim: Joseph Boakai undergoes surgery
Source: A social media user and partisan of the CDC
Verdict: Untrue, the image is manipulated
Full Text: Some blogs and political actors, supporters, and partisans of different political parties have claimed that Amb. Boakai had gone to attend urgent medical care. One of whom is Mo Lattin, a partisan of the ruling Coalition for Democracy Change (CDC), who claimed that the former vice president went out of the country to undergo major surgery.’
Ambassador Joseph Nyumah Boakai served as the Vice President of Liberia for two terms (2005–2017), and he participated in the 2017 elections as the presidential candidate, but his dream of replacing his former boss, Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf did not materialize.
Boakai is currently one of the many Liberians eying the nation’s highest seat. But his health crisis has been a discussion since he expressed his interest in leading the country. A week or so ago, Boakai traveled to the US, a trip that was marked by many reactions and perceptions from the public.
“Let’s take a moment to set aside politics and send our well wishes to Joseph Boakai as he undergoes surgery. Although he squandered opportunities, we still need to support him at this critical point. Let’s keep him in our prayers. They are hiding the truth, but we know better,” are the words contained in the post.
Verification: TSM investigated and discovered that the post’s content and the image were both altered. Contrary to the social media user’s claim that it is the former vice president, it was discovered that the image used in the post is of a 40-year-old man named Christian Ude who is requesting N18 million to undergo a kidney transplant operation scheduled for May 2022. In the SOS call, which was made by Ude’s family and published in “The Guardian,” they claimed that the condition began 15 years ago in his homeland of Imo State when he was first identified as having diabetes mellitus. (https://www.sullivansusa.net/)
His family made the decision to relocate him to Lagos State for an appropriate medical diagnosis as things grew worse over time. In addition, a statement from the Unity Party says that its presidential candidate was in the US, where he spoke at the 176th Independence Anniversary of Liberia.
Conclusion: Following our investigation, we have come to the conclusion that the poster intentionally misled the public about the health status of the Unity Party presidential candidate.
This story was produced with the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development’s (CJID)’s support.
