Pictures show Nigerian governor at a beach in Lagos, not Ondo state

This article is more than one year old.
Published on April 20, 2023 at 12:24
2 min read
By Fikayo OWOEYE, AFP Nigeria

A social media post claims that a series of pictures show Rotimi Akeredolu, the governor of Ondo state in southwest Nigeria, at a beach resort in his state. But the claim is misleading: the pictures were taken when Akeredolu visited a resort in Lagos statein 2019.

“Not Seychelles, not Mauritius, not Cape Town, not Hawaii, not Maldives, not Tarkwa Bay, not even Oniru beach - this is Aiyetoro Beach in Ondo State...(sic),” reads a tweet published on April 14, 2023.

A screenshot showing the misleading tweet, taken on April 19, 2023

The four pictures in the tweet show the governor visiting what appears to be a beach resort.

The tweet was published by a Twitter account named “Abiola Osohodi” that regularly shares content in support of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), to which Akeredolu belongs.

The tweet has since gathered over 1,300 retweets and over 4,900 likes.

Many people commenting on the pictures were enthusiastic about the beach resort and promised to visit for their holidays.

A screenshot showing comments on the misleading post, taken on April 19, 2023

The claim also appeared elsewhere on Twitter and Facebook.

Aiyetoro -- where the post claimed the pictures were taken -- is a coastal community in the Ilaje area of Ondo state.

But the claim that the pictures were taken at a beach in Aiyetoro is false.

Beach in Lagos, not Ondo

Using reverse image searches, AFP Fact Check found the original photos in Nigerian media articles from 2021.

The pictures show Akeredolu visiting La Campagne Tropicana beach resort on May 15, 2021.

( Fikayo OWOEYE)

This resort is in the village of Ikegun, located in the Ibeju Lekki area of Lagos state.

The visit was widely reported in major local newspapers, including here and here (archived here and here).

According to the reports, Akeredolux said during his visit that his administration wanted to further develop tourism in Ondo state.

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