FactCheck: Highway In Pakistan Used To Depict Ogun Road In Nigeria

Claim

A Facebook page posted image of highway and captioned it Sango-Abeokuta Road, in Ogun State, Nigeria

Verdict

This claim is MISLEADING. A simple Google image reverse search shows that it’s highway in Pakistan known as Hazara Motorway.

Full Text

A Facebook page named The True History Of Yoruba —Oduduwa, on August 24 2024, shared image of a long road neatly constructed and claimed it’s located in Ogun State, Nigeria.

The post generated over 1,000 reactions and many comments.

Verification

A simple Google image reverse search carried out, showed that the road is located in Pakistan.

According to WikipediaOnline, the M-15 Motorway, also known as the Hazara Motorway is a 180-kilometer controlled-access motorway in Pakistan. It links the Burhan Interchange near Hasan Abdal in the Punjab province with Haripur, Havelian, Abbottabad, Mansehra, Shinkiari, Battagram, and Thakot in the Hazara Division of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif inaugurated the construction of the project on 29 November 2014.

The first phase of the project would cost PKR 33 billion and will include the 60-kilometre-long (37 mi), six-lane, fenced portion of the motorway from Hasan Abdal to Havelian.

Packages one and two comprising a 39.61 stretch of road between Burhan and Serai Saleh were awarded to the Chinese firm Gezhouba Group.

Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi inaugurated the 47-kilometre stretch from Burhan-Shah Maqsood Interchange to Havelian on 27 December 2017. The Prime Minister unveiled the plaque at Lora Chowk interchange, located 13 kilometres from Haripur

FactWatch also found social media posts of three years ago which also confirmed that it’s a road in Pakistan.

See posts Here and Here.

In 2021, a Pakistani journalist called out a Nigerian Twitter user for passing off a Pakistani road as former Kaduna governor El-Rufai’s project.

A Pakistani journalist, Mansoor Ahmed Qureshi said the road which is an aerial view of a 79km long secondary road of Manshera-Thakot was constructed by former Prime Minister, Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif .

When this Fact Checker typed Sango-Abeokuta Road, into Google search, it was discovered that the image results are unrelated to the photo posted by The True History Of Yoruba —Oduduwa.

Conclusion

The Facebook page deliberately shared a photo of highway in Pakistan.

Credit: FactWatch