Image of German vehicles in traffic jams, used to show Nigeria’s Southeast residents returning home for Christmas

Claim

A Facebook page, Ogbunike Sons and Daughters, shared images of coordinated vehicles in traffic jams and claimed it was Nigeria’s southeast residents returning home for Christmas despite insecurity in the region.

Verdict

The use of the photo to depict the return of southeast residents is MISLEADING. According to the results from Tineye, the photo that appeared first in 2013 showed that in Germany, when traffic comes to a complete stop, the Drivers (By Law) must move towards the edge of each side to create an open lane for emergency vehicles.

Full Text

It is no longer news that the South-East region of Nigeria has been witnessing a serious security crisis in the last three years.

This has devastated the area. The crisis has taken a destructive toll on the people of the region in terms of human lives and property.

Many fingers have pointed to the secessionists in the region, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPoB), and a faction known as the autopilot headed by the incarcerated Simon Ekpa.

In December 2024, there were concerns about the return of residents to celebrate the Christmas season in the region.

Regarding this, a Facebook page, Ogbunike Sons and Daughter, shared an image showing well-coordinated vehicles in traffic jams and claimed it was Nigeria’s southeast residents returning home for Christmas despite insecurity in the region.

The post generated over 1k likes and hundreds of comments on Facebook.

While many hailed the claim believing it was true, others disagreed with it, stating that the photo was taken in Nigeria. But these commenters could not figure out where the place was.

Verification

When this image was uploaded to a photo reverse tool, Tineye, the results showed that the image first appeared on Wikki Media on 20th February 2013.

This image has appeared on 178 websites since 2013. More findings by this Fact Checker indicated that according to Tineye analytics, the last time this photo was published by news/podborka, was in September 2024.

According to Wikk Media, the photo explained that in Germany, when traffic comes to a complete stop, the Drivers (By Law) must move towards the edge of each side to create an open lane for emergency vehicles.

Many posts of this same photo on Facebook pages, Reddit accounts, and X platforms confirmed that this image was taken in Germany and not Southeast Nigeria as claimed.