A Facebook user, Auntie Naa Official, shared a picture she alleged was taken in Accra in 1963.
“Accra 1963, look how everywhere is organized,” the social media user wrote, as seen here, curated using the Wayback Machine.
The social media platform’s data showed that as of Sept. 29, 2024, the post had over 22,152 likes, 1,442 comments, and 770 shares.
Reacting to the post, a Facebook user, Ofori Daniel Akwagyan, wrote:
“Nkrumah was such a very good husband [and] leader of Ama Ghana. Removing him from power was the beginning of our downfall till today. The USA was the main brain behind that coup.”
Another Facebook user, John Johnson, commented:
“But now it looks like everything is disorganized. Mmm.”
For Kofi Dom, the picture could not be taken from Ghana. He quizzed:
“Are you sure this is Accra? The car number plates don’t look Ghanaian, so we might be getting scammed here into believing this was Ghana.”
DUBAWA’s search showed the same image had been used online to depict scenes in Accra and Lagos, as revealed by image reverse tools TinEye and Google Image Reverse Search.
For some usage of the picture, see here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
DUBAWA decided to probe the claim because of the interest it has generated on Facebook in Ghana.
Verification
DUBAWA’s checks showed the picture was taken in Lagos, Nigeria in 1965, not Accra in 1963, as the Facebook user alleged.
DUBAWA fact-checked a similar post made by Ghanaian musician, A Plus in Nov. 2021 and found it false. See here for DUBAWA’s verdict.
Data available at Getty Images, a Washington-based visual holding company, revealed that the image was taken in Lagos, Nigeria, in Oct. 1965.
The picture credited to Mondadori Portfolio shows an organized city with road users, pedestrians, and motorists in their designated lanes.
Getty Images wrote:
“Wide shot of a road filled with cars in Lagos: each morning, a thousands of cars and bicycles of employees crowd the centre of the city. Lagos (Nigeria), October 1965.”
According to the British-American company, the image was created on Jan. 10, 1965, and uploaded online on April 22, 2015.
Also, Bridgeman Images, one of the world’s oldest image licensing companies, has confirmed that the picture was taken in Lagos, Nigeria, in 1965.
The company, with offices in London, Paris, Berlin, and Bologna, credited the picture to Mondadori Portfolio, Pepi Meriso, and Bridgeman.
Conclusion
Getty Images and Bridgeman Images have confirmed that the purported 1963 image of Accra the Facebook user shared was actually of Lagos, Nigeria, in 1965.
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