No evidence Senator Abraham Dillon was sharing food at Korea-Africa Summit

By: Laymah Kollie

Image of Senator Abraham Darius Dillon
Source: Facebook, Abe Darius Dillon.

Claim: A Facebook user has alleged on the Facebook group’s Costa Show that Senator Abraham Dillon of Montserrado County was distributing meals at the Korea-Africa Summit.

Verdict: Misleading! The fact-check conducted with Google Reverse Image Search and Bing revealed that the image used was first posted on January 9, 2022, by Diamond Online and Inside Grand Gedeh with different narratives. The photo has nothing to do with the Africa-Korea Summit.

Full Text

President Joseph Boakai led a delegation from Liberia to attend the Korea-Africa Summit in Seoul, South Korea, from June 4 to 5, 2024. Senator Abraham Dillon, Chairman of the Liberian Senate’s Foreign Affairs Committee, was among the delegation.

The event was the first summit organised between African countries and the Republic of Korea. It lasted two days and focused on ways and prospects for enhancing the partnership between the African countries and Korea.

However, on June 10, 2024, a social media user, Mohammed Keita, posted in the Costa Show (Facebook group), claiming that Senator Dillon left his duty at the summit and engaged in distributing meals. The claimant added that the lawmaker came back with nothing from the occasion.

“So this is what you were doing in South Korea at the Africa Business Summit. (You were doing) distribution of food, and you come back with Vlahhh in the country,” the post said.

The post generated 94 comments and 53 reactions at the time of this writing. In the comment section, social media users stated that the post was false, while some supported the poster’s claim. This confusion led DUBAWA to conduct a fact check.

Verification

DUBAWA conducted a Google Reverse Image Search to trace the image’s origin. The results show that two blogs in Liberia posted the image on January 9, 2024. In their separate posts, the blogs Diamond Online and Inside Grand Gedeh alleged that the Senator was spotted hanging out for meals at a local party.

DUBAWA browsed the comment section on these blogs to research further about the image. During the process, DUBAWA came across a few comments linking the picture of the Senator holding two plates of rice to a Thanksgiving gathering he hosted for his supporters in 2022. The comments added that the caterers found it difficult to distribute meals to the guests during the occasion, prompting the Senator to assist.

Meanwhile, DUBAWA also contacted Senator Abraham Darius Dillon on the claim but didn’t get a reply as of this publication.

Conclusion

Based on our findings, the image posted by the claimant is unrelated to the summit.