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Please note that the FactCheckHub has not obtained any right from the authors or copyright owners of all third-party contents from embedded links and shall incur no liability in this regard.
Please note that the FactCheckHub has not obtained any right from the authors or copyright owners of all third-party contents from embedded links and shall incur no liability in this regard.
A telephone number attributed to the Lagos state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has surfaced online with a claim that the governor makes his WhatsApp contact public to solicit the support of Lagos residents in the forthcoming gubernatorial election in the state.
Sanwo-Olu, the incumbent governor of Lagos State is seeking re-election under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the gubernatorial election billed for March 18, 2023.
A Facebook user, ‘Advert with Me’ posted the claim with a caption thus:
“Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu Desperate For A 2nd Term Suddenly Becomes Omnipresent, Begs Lagosians To Chat With Him On WhatsApp In A Sponsored Online Campaign.”
A Twitter user, @redcap_blonde tweeted the claim with another caption that read:
“Lol Babajide Sanwo-Olu it’s already too late or are you just waking up? The desperation no be here, please chat with him on WhatsApp. Sponsored post politicians.”
Another tweep, @toppensyy also tweeted the claim with a similar caption thus:
“Sanwoolu wan follow una chat for WhatsApp ooo. I’m sure if I tell am say I wan make my hair ,he go turn up(sic).”
Due to the viral nature of this claim and to save the citizens from falling to the tricks of the impostors, The FactCheckHub found this claim worthy of verifying.
CLAIM
Babajide Sanwo-Olu begs Lagosians to chat him on WhatsApp.
Screenshot of one of the viral posts.
THE FINDINGS
Checks by The FactCheckHub show that the WhatsApp contact which has now gone viral originated from one Facebook account, Lagos Talks and not that of Governor Sanwo-Olu.
Screenshot of one of the viral WhatsApp contacts.
The Facebook account posted the contact, with a caption thus: “Chat with Sanwo-Olu on WhatsApp.”
However, the screenshot of the post has now been circulated on WhatsApp and Twitter with a claim that the governor publicizes his WhatsApp contact out of desperation for votes in the coming March 18 gubernatorial election in the state.
Further checks by TheFactCheckHub using True Caller revealed that the name on the WhatsApp contact is: “Keep Lagos Moving.”
When The FactCheckHub sent a message to the WhatsApp number, the user identified himself as one Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who is soliciting for the support of Lagosians in the March 18 gubernatorial election.
His automated response to our inquiry read:
“Hello. My name is Babajide Sanwo-Olu and I need your support on March 11th 2023 to continue moving Lagos forward. Please save my number so I will show you what you will benefit. Are you ready to get started? Type Yes or No(sic).”
To clarify further, TheFactCheckHub contacted Gboyega Akoshile, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Sanwo-Olu.
In his response, he said the WhatsApp contact does not belong to Governor Sanwo-Olu, adding that it is an attempt by heinous scammers to dissuade the voters.
THE VERDICT
The claim that the Lagos state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu begged Lagos residents to chat him on WhatsApp is FALSE; the governor’s spokesperson has debunked the claim.
A claim that Ireti Kingibe is the first female senator to be elected in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) into Nigeria’s National Assembly (NASS) has circulated online.
This is coming following her emergence as the winner of the senatorial seat for the FCT in the NASS election held on February 25, 2023.
Ireti Kingibe of the Labour Party (LP) was declared winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) having scored 202,175 votes to beat a sitting Senator, Philip Aduda of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 100,544 votes.
Kingibe was among the newly elected lawmakers that received certificates of return from the INEC on Tuesday, March 7, 2023, The Punch reported.
In a tweet (now deleted), the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi had earlier made the same claim thus:
“A very hearty congratulations to Senator-elect Mrs @ireti _kingibe; the first elected female senator for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. Her election is in keeping with our commitment to women and youth.”
On March 7, 2023, the Vanguard newspaper also reported the claim in their news report titled: “FCT’s first female senator presents COR to Peter Obi.”
A Twitter user, @IkukuomaC tweeted the same claim with another caption thus:
“The first ever Abuja female senator Mrs Ireti Kingibe showed our president Mr Peter Obi her certificate of return after unseating PDP senator Philip Aduba. Obidients let’s celebrate her !!!”
Another tweep, @NanaKazaure also tweeted the same claim with a caption that read: “First elected Female Senator representing the Federal Capital Territory under the @NgLabour.”
CLAIM
Ireti Kingibe is the first elected female senator of the FCT.
Screenshot one of the viral posts
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is FALSE.
Checks revealed that Khairat Abdulrazaq-Gwadabe had previously held the position of the Senator representing the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) from May 29, 1999 to May 29, 2003, over two decades prior to the 2023 general election which Ireti Kingibe won.
Abdulrazaq-Gwadabe contested under the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in 1999 and won.
During her days in the Senate, she was a member of several committees which include Environment, Health, Women Affairs (chairman), Federal Character, Tourism & Culture and the FCT.
Abdulrazaq-Gwadabe is also a board Member of Cement Co Northern Nigeria PLC which specialized in the production and marketing of cement under the brand name “Sokoto Cement”.
THE VERDICT
The claim that Ireti Kingibe is the first elected female senator of the Federal Capital Territory is FALSE; findings show that there was Khairat Abdulrazaq-Gwadabe who served as FCT’s senator before Kingibe’s emergence.
A claim has circulated online alongside an image that a 19-year-old young man from Plateau State had committed suicide following Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of Labour Party’s (LP) loss at the Nigerian presidential election held on February 25, 2023.
A tweep, @maryam_skits, made the post on Twitter on March 3, 2023, two days after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declaredBola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) the winner of the election.
Tinubu, a former Lagos State governor, was declared the president-elect after the 70-year-old polled 8,794,726 votes to win the 2023 presidential election.
The INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, announced Tinubu as the winner at the International Collation Centre in Abuja during the early hours of Wednesday, March 1, 2023.
Tinubu won the election ahead of other contenders — the Peoples Democratic Party candidate, Atiku Abubakar; the Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi; and the New Nigeria Peoples Party candidate, Rabiu Kwankwaso, The Punch reported.
BREAKING!!!! “I WILL TELL GOD @inecnigeriaKILLED ME”. A Young boy from Plateau State commits suicide when he realized Obi has been rigged out of d just concluded election. The 19yrs old boy left a short note behind which reads “NO HOPE FOR NIGERIA AGAIN”. INEC killed this guy!
Another Twitter user, @DalapFlourish, also tweeted the same image with a similar caption thus:
*SAD NEWS: I will tell God INEC killed me, Young Boy from Plateau state commit suicide and dies after Obi lost a rigged election. The 19 years old boy left a short note behind which reads “ no hope for Nigeria for the next 20 years after Obi lost the election, #RejectTinubu
The tweet also claimed that the boy left a note behind stating that Nigeria would have no hope in the next 20 years after Obi’s presidential bid.
Multiple blogs including The Eagles Online and CorrectNG had reported the suicide has seen here and here.
It was also posted on popular Nigerian online forum board, Nairaland, has seen here.
CLAIM
19-year-old boy commits suicide after Peter Obi lost the 2023 presidential election.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the image has been online since 2016 and not related to the just-concluded Nigerian presidential election.
When the image was subjected to Google and TinEye reverse image searches, the results show that the image appeared on the internet in December 2016 and resurfaced in March 2017 respectively.
An online news blog, UrhoboToday, on December 26, 2016 published the image with an headline that read: “Yahoo, Yahoo Boy Commits Suicide In Warri.”
Part of the report reads: “A 26 year old suspected internet fraudster known ‘Yahoo,Yahoo’ nickname Chino was said to have committed suicide in Warri, Delta yesterday. Residents of the area said they woke up this morning to see his dangling corpse.”
Several blogs also used the same image and attributed the same claim to it in 2016.
Similarly, the Plateau State Police Command has debunked the claim.
The Command, in a statement signed by its State Public Relations Officer, DSP Alfred Alabo, said the post currently being circulated on some social media platforms about an alleged suicide by a yet-to-be-identified 19-year-old Labour Party supporter over the announcement of presidential results by INEC is false, unfounded, and inciting.
According to the command, the post, which is capable of stirring political uproar, rancor, and conflict in the state, fails to establish the location of the alleged suicidal incident, thereby making the post lack substance of fact, the Nigerian Tribune reported.
THE VERDICT
The claim that a 19-year-old boy committed suicide after Peter Obi lost the presidential election is FALSE; findings revealed that the image is an old photo which has been online since 2016.
A former Nigerian lawmaker and spokesperson of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, Senator Dino Melaye, has shared a photo alongside a claim that suggests that the chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu’s life is in danger.
He tweeted the screenshot photo which had the image of the INEC chairman atop a news headline, which reads:
Breaking: My life is at risk, INEC chairman cries out.
In his tweet, Melaye captioned the photo thus: ‘Please go to court’.
The tweet which was made on Monday, March 6, 2023 has garnered 1.2 million views, over 2,800 retweets and 18, 200 likes as of Thursday, March 9, 2023.
Melaye has about 3.4 million followers on Twitter.
Another online user, Anchor Network, which has over 100,000 subscribers on YouTube, also posted an audio-visual report of the same claim.
The 8-minutes long video report, which was posted on March 5, now has over 6,900 views as of Thursday.
This claim is coming days after Professor Yakubu oversee the conduct of Nigeria’s 2023 Presidential and National Assembly Election.
The election results are currently being challenged in court by the two main opposition presidential candidates, Peter Obi of the Labour Party and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
CLAIM
INEC Chairman cries out that his life is at risk.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by the FactCheckHub show that the claim is FALSE.
The screenshot photo which Melaye tweeted doesn’t bear the name of any news blog or website. Apart from the image and headline, no detailed report was seen on it.
When the headline was subjected to a search using Google lens and Google reverse image tools, it displayed a report published four years ago by thebiafrastar.com, which content is no longer accessible on the internet.
Screenshot of the Google search conducted on the headline.
Further search shows that no credible media platform reported the claim attributed to the INEC chairman.
When contacted, Rotimi Oyekanmi, the Chief Press Secretary/Media Adviser to the INEC chairman, told the FactCheckHub: “It’s fake. At no time did the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu speak about his life being at risk. This is the work of mischief makers. Prof. Yakubu’s life is not at risk. He is fine.”
THE VERDICT
The claim that the INEC Chairman cries out that his life is at risk is FALSE; Professor Yakubu’s spokesperson debunked it.
A claim has been circulating via Short Messaging Services (SMS) that Saliu Mustapha, the Kwara Central Senator-elect is giving out N10,000 as an election reward scheme.
The claim was widely circulated through text messages sent randomly to phone numbers belonging to some Kwara indigenes.
A message received by an MTN user, who is a Kwara indigene, from a sender named Register on February 4, 2023 directed people to click a link in the text message to claim their reward.
The claim reads:
“10,000 from Mallam Soliu Mustapha appreciation funds for the successful of the election, claim yours. Apply now: https://lyupz.com/MSM-appreciation-funds.org.”
CLAIM
Saliu Mustapha is giving out N10,000 as appreciation funds for successful election.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub shows that the claim is FALSE.
When the web link in the text message was subjected to verification, the result shows that it’s typically a phishing website.
Screenshot of the phishing web link when clicked. INSERT: False verdict.
A click on the link will take users to a website which asks users to fill in their personal details excluding bank information, and then ask them to click the “apply” button.
Further click on the ‘apply’ button will pop up three questions, asking users to answer them. They questions are: which party won the 2023 presidential election, what is your marital status and what is the name of newly elected Kwara Central senator.
After answering the questions, users will be asked to input their phone number and share the link to 15 different friends or 5 WhatsApp groups to claim the N10,000 fund. After submission, it takes users back to the registration page for another round of registration similar to the initial one.
Screenshot of the phishing web link after filling and submitting the form. INSERT: False verdict.
In addition, Saliu Mustapha’s media office has debunked the claim in a press statement.
The Senator-elect’s media office said that the alleged scheme labelled “Sen. Soliu Mustapha N10,000 Complimentary Fund” is operated by unknown fraudsters who could not even spell the candidate’s name correctly.
The statement partly reads: “According to information at our disposal, the fraudsters behind the scheme asked unsuspecting members to apply for a token of appreciation following Mallam Saliu Mustapha’s election victory.
“The media office of the Senator-elect refutes the alleged scheme and any other claims made in this manner.”
THE VERDICT
The claim that Saliu Mustapha is giving out N10,000 as an appreciation fund for successful election is FALSE; findings revealed that it’s a phishing scam.
A photo showing the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in Nigeria’s 2023 general election, Peter Obi and the gubernatorial candidate of the party in Lagos State, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, with alcoholic drinks on their table has surfaced online.
The photo is circulating alongside another one which showed the duo taking a nap at the Ikeja Airport in Lagos, with a claim that both of them were drunk and caught sleeping at the Airport.
The image shows four bottles of Hero beer directly in front of Obi and a bottle of Heineken and a glass cup in front Rhodes-Vivour on the shared table.
A Facebook user, Zara Onyinye posted the photo with a caption thus:
HOW IT STARTED AND HOW IT ENDED
PICTURE NO DEY LIE
OBI NA 419
My uncle Obi was not sleeping at all. It was all stages managed
This Man started staging this film after he took his hero beer and got high somehow …
No amount of this yahoo yahoo strategies, campaigns on ethnicity, and religious bigotry can make him the next President of Nigeria.
I did not hate you but his lies is just so much
I sympathize with those covering under race and ecclesiastical small-mindedness supporting Peter Obi and asserting he will be the messiah to unravel Nigeria’s difficulty, records of Peter Obi’s divisiveness, looting from the treasury, and ineptitude then as Governor of Anambra are intact
CLAIM
Photo shows Peter Obi and Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour with alcoholic drinks on their table.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is MISLEADING.
When the FactCheckHub conducted a Google Reverse Image search on the photo, the result shows that the image has been manipulated.
Further checks show that the original image had been shared online, among several others, by a Twitter user, Pearls on February 17, 2023 with a caption thus:
“BREAKING: The Incoming President of Nigeria, HE Peter Obi, is currently meeting with the Incoming Governor of Lagos, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivor at Ikeja Airport!”
Another Tweep, @Morris_Monye tweeted the original images same day with a caption that read: “Happening now at Lagos Airport. Peter Obi in a chit-chat with Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour (Incoming Governor of Lagos state under LP).”
In the original image, no bottle was seen on the table of the duo contrary to what the doctored version looked like.
THE VERDICT
The claim that the photo shows Obi and Rhodes-Vivour with alcoholic drinks on their table is MISLEADING; findings revealed that the image has been doctored.
A former Nigerian lawmaker and spokesperson for the Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Council, Senator Dino Melaye, has tweeted a video with a claim that the Nigerian Army accused Nyesom Wike, Rivers state governor, of attempting to bribe the military to compromise the 2023 general election.
The video shows an army official on podium saying Wike made an attempt to compromise security officials with large sums of money to influence the outcome of the election.
Melaye tweeted the video on March 4, 2023 with a caption that read:
“The Nigerian Army accusing Wike of trying to compromise them with huge financial inducements.”
The tweet has generated over 1,200 retweets and more than 2,700 likes as of Sunday, March 5, 2023.
The video, which has been circulated on several social media platforms including WhatsApp groups, was also tweeted by many Nigerians on Twitter.
A social media influencer, @drpenking tweeted the video with a caption thus:
“The Nigerian Army reportedly accused Wike of attempting to bribe them during the recent presidential election.”
The video posted by @drpenking has been viewed by over 81,000 tweeps on his account and the tweet has also generated over 1,000 retweets and 3,000 likes as of Sunday, March 05, 2023.
A Twitter user, @MorrisMonye, also tweeted the video with a caption thus: “They are waiting for Wike.”
The tweet has also generated over 1,000 retweets and 2,000 likes and viewed by 47,000 tweeps via his account.
CLAIM
Nigerian Army recently accused Governor Nyesom Wike, Governor of Rivers State of attempting to compromise election.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is MISLEADING.
When The FactCheckHub subjected the keyframes of the video generated with InVID to multiple reverse image search, the results show that the video has been online since 2019.
In the full video obtained by The FactCheckHub, the Nigerian Army through her then Director of Public Relations Officer, Aminu Ilyasu accused the governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, of making an attempt to bribe security agencies to comprise the 2019 general elections.
Several media outfits such as Sahara Reporter also reported the Army’s allegation against Wike in 2019.
THE VERDICT
The claim that the Nigerian Army recently accused the Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, of attempting to compromise the 2023 general election is MISLEADING as the purported video has been online since 2019.
Nigeria’s February 25, 2023 presidential and national assembly elections were the freest and fairest with only a few glitches, according to Ajuri Ngelale, President Muhammadu Buhari’s senior special assistant on public affairs.
Ngelale said this on 1 March 2023 in an interview with Zain Asher, an anchor for the US news channel CNN.
Ngelale, who is also a spokesperson for the APC presidential campaign, likened the failure to upload the results of the polling units to Inec’s results portal to the first-day crash of the Obamacare website in 2013. Obamacare is a term used to refer to the United States’ Affordable Care Act, signed into law by then president Barack Obama to make it easier for US citizens to obtain health insurance.
He also played down the impact of violence on election day.
We fact-checked three claims he made in the interview.
Claim 1
“Political parties are not disputing the actual results.”
In his interview on CNN, Ngelale claimed that the political parties were not disputing the actual results but were only unhappy that the collated results were not displayed on the screen.
However, according to several media reports, political parties are contesting the results of the presidential election on the grounds that they were manipulated.
The PDP, the Labour Party and the NNPP have rejected the results of the presidential election.
Agents of these parties walked out of the national collation centre and refused to sign the presidential result sheet.
They also rejected the declaration of Tinubu as president-elect and accused Inec of compromising the electoral process. These leading opposition parties want the election annulled and a fresh vote held.
Peter Obi, the Labour Party candidate, has said he will challenge the result through “legal and peaceful means”.
Ngelale’s claim is false.
Claim 2
“Election results are supposed to be uploaded to the iRev portal after they have been collated at the ward, local government and state levels.”
Verdict
INCORRECT
Ngelale said the process is that all political party agents sign the polling unit result sheet and “once that result sheet is collated at the ward centre, the local government collation centre and the state centre, it is now sent into that iRev portal”.
iRev is a web portal developed by Inec to enable its staff to upload election results from 176,846 polling units across Nigeria.
The process described by Ngelale is contrary to the plans laid out by the chairman of Inec, Mahmood Yakubu, before the election.
Inec repeatedly promised that polling unit results would be transmitted to the iRev portal on election day, and denied claims that it had abandoned the plan.
Claim 3
“The incident of a woman who voted after her eye was injured during an attack on a polling unit occurred in the South-East.”
Verdict
INCORRECT
CNN anchor Asher, who is British Nigerian, argued that the level of violence recorded on election day affected the credibility of the election.
She referred to a viral video of a woman who returned to vote after receiving first aid for an injury to her right eye when thugs attacked her polling unit.
“Interesting, the example you cited with the woman with her eyes shot. That was actually a vote that took place in the southeastern part of the country, where you are from, that Peter Obi won massively. Labour Party won 90% of the South-East,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria, a federal government news agency, reported that the thugs injured Jennifer Seifegha at the Nuru/Oniwo Ward, Polling Unit 065, in Surulere, Lagos, while she was waiting to vote.
A joint press statement attributed to the European Union (EU) delegation and the NDI/IRI Election Observation Mission to Nigeria calling for the stepping down of the INEC chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu and a review of the results of the just-concluded Nigeria’s 2023 presidential and national assembly elections has circulated online.
The statement, attributed to the EU in Nigeria, also called for the disqualification of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who was the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the election, days after the electoral umpire declared him as the President-elect.
The press release stated that if the President-elect is sworn-in, the citizens of Nigeria would have no say in their appointed leaders’ national policies and the future of their nation and the EU, NDI, IRI and other international democratic advocates and election observers will be in agreement to classify Nigeria as a failing democracy.
The statement has been circulating on various social media platforms including Twitter, WhatsApp and Facebook.
A tweep, @vicdubem, tweeted the alleged press statement on March 3, 2023 with a caption thus:
The @EUinNigeria, @NDI and @IRIglobal seem to be in agreement.
CLAIM
The European Union issued a joint press statement with NDI and IRI calling for sanctions on the INEC chairman and the President-elect following the conduct of Nigeria’s 2023 presidential election.
Screenshot of a tweet with the press statement falsely attributed to the EU in Nigeria and NDI/IRI election observers.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by the FactCheckHub show that the claim is FALSE.
A close look at the press statement shows that it wasn’t duly signed by any relevant official – either the Chief Observer or the EU press officer.
In a brief response to the FactCheckHub inquiry on Friday, Agnes Doka, the Press Officer to the Delegation of the European Union to Nigeria and ECOWAS, debunked the claim.
The claim that the EU issued a joint statement with NDI and IRI calling for sanctions on the INEC chairman and Nigeria’s President-elect is FALSE; the EU delegation debunked it.
There has been a surge in misinformation and disinformation as the collation of results of Nigeria‘s 2023 Presidential and National Assembly Elections conducted on Saturday, February 25, 2023 entered the third day.
Our team of researchers, fact-checkers, social media monitors, editors, misinformation & disinformation experts drawn from the coalition partners, are working from the Nigerian Fact-checkers’ Coalition’s (NFC) Election Situation Rooms located in Abuja, Lagos and UK, to debunk election-related misinformation and disinformation contents targeted at spreading fake election results, inciting violence or influencing the outcome of election in general.
CLAIM: A breaking news headline posted on Facebook by Page 36 News claims that the PDP’s Atiku Abubakar has become the first 2023 presidential candidate to meet the mandatory 25% requirement of votes cast in at least 24 states.
THE FINDINGS: The Facebook post made on 26 February 2023 provided no evidence. The report differs from the headline. It says Abubakar was “projected to become the first candidate to meet the mandatory 25% requirement of votes cast in at least 24 States”. However, as of 7a.m. on Monday, February 27, 2023, INEC had declared presidential election results from less than 20 states.
VERDICT: INCORRECT
SOURCES: Stears, Channels TV
Claim 2
CLAIM: A Twitter user (@LPLagosInfo) on Monday night claimed that Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s (LP) presidential candidate, has won Anambra State with high margin.
THE FINDINGS: Checks by the NFC on credible media platforms such as ICIR, Punch and Premium Times did not show that there has been an official announcement of the presidential election results from Anambra State as collation of results is still ongoing as of Tuesday morning (February 28).
CLAIM: A Twitter user, #BBTitans (@chiboyskits) claims that INEC chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu was feasting at Tinubu’s house a day before the presidential election.
THE FINDINGS: Analysis conducted by the NFC reveals that the alleged video was shared two months ago on CocoTv YouTube channel and other platforms. It originally depicts moments Tinubu and his team were having dinner after his Chatham House appearance on December 5. 2022. Other extended clips from the scene also show that the man in the footage is not the INEC chairman.
VERDICT: INCORRECT
SOURCES: CocoTV and GoldmyneTV (YouTube Channels)
Claim 4
CLAIM: Social media users claim that INEC uploaded election results from Kano for Kaduna Polling Unit on iReV.
THE FINDINGS: Our findings showed that the result uploaded on the INEC iReV portal for PU 18/10/03/015 in Kakuri Gwari Ward/RA in Kaduna South LGA was actually from one of the polling units in Dawaki Tofa LGA of Kano State.
The NFC also observed the same act was replicated in some other PUs in Lagos, Imo and Rivers states where results from some PUs in the North were uploaded instead.
VERDICT: CORRECT
SOURCE: INEC iRev portal
Claim 5
CLAIM: A Twitter user @Naija_Activist tweeted a photo of Babatunde Fashola, Minister of Works and Housing, with the narrative that he’s manipulating results on INEC’S portal.
THE FINDINGS: A Google image lens search shows that the dashboard on the screen is not INEC’s iRev but the Civic Hive’s 2023 election portal. Civic Hive is a Lagos-based civic-tech organisation.
VERDICT: MISLEADING
SOURCE: Google Reverse Image search , Google Lens.
Claim 6
CLAIM: A Twitter user @uchePokoye tweeted a claim that the Labour Party won 40 % of the votes cast nationwide from the polling units gathered across the country.
THE FINDINGS: Results of the presidential election from all the 36 states and the FCT are yet to be announced as the collation is still ongoing as of 11am on Tuesday, February 28, 2023.
VERDICT: INCORRECT
SOURCES: Multiple media reports
Claim 7
CLAIM: A Twitter user Doctor Penking (@drpenking) claims that the INEC scored Labour Party (LP) 0 votes in Obot Akara LGA of Akwa Ibom State meanwhile LP had 135 votes in just 1 polling unit in Obot Akara (Village Hall, Mbakpo Nkap in Nto Edino IV ward).
THE FINDINGS: The tweet includes a screenshot of presidential election result update for Obot Akara local government area, which has 4,477 recorded for the All Progressives Congress (APC) and 8,029 for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the first two rows. Votes for Labour Party (LP) in the third row and other party listed were yet to be inputted. The completed presidential election results show APC and PDP got the exact number of votes recorded on the screenshot and LP got 2,542 votes.
VERDICT: INCORRECT
SOURCES: Stears, Vanguard
Claim 8
CLAIM: A Twitter user, Adetutu Balogun (@tutsy22) claimed that a University lecturer presented a wrong result at a collation centre.
THE FINDINGS: An extensive Google search revealed that the screenshot shared by Adetutu shows the presidential election results for Oyo State presented by the state collation officer, Professor Olusola Babatunde Kehinde. However, the screenshot of the excel sheet that she tweeted does not capture all the figures in the column which sum up to give the overall results for each political party.
VERDICT: INCORRECT
SOURCES: Channels TV, Daily Trust
Claim 9
CLAIM: A Twitter user Melinda (@frederi63) claims that a polling unit results from Sokoto state was uploaded on INEC result viewing portal (iRev) for a polling unit in Oyigbo Central ward in Rivers state.
THE FINDINGS: The screenshot in the tweet shows the Twitter user referred to the Mayor’s Comp Open Space polling unit in Oyigbo Central ward in Rivers State. We viewed the result uploaded for the polling unit on INEC iRev and confirmed that the uploaded result is from Sokoto State. The polling unit result posted at about 6:27pm on 27 February 2023 is of Kaura Kimba polling unit in Wamakko local government area of Sokoto State.
VERDICT: CORRECT
SOURCE: INEC iRev
Claim 10
CLAIM: A Twitter user @Charles91253085 claimed that there was a protest at INEC office in Abuja on Monday, February 27 following alleged manipulation of the election results.
THE FINDINGS: Using InVid, the NFC discovered that the video had been shared by a Twitter user since Saturday, February 25, 2023 (on the election day).
But contrary to the claim, the incident happened in Warri, Delta State. The protesters were said to have stormed the INEC office in Warri chanting “We must vote”.
The protest was also reported by Punch Newspaper on the same day. Also, there were no media reports of a protest at the INEC office in Abuja by voters on that Monday.
VERDICT: INCORRECT
SOURCES: Punch Newspaper, InVid, Twitter
Claim 11
CLAIM: A Labour Party supporter on Twitter, T. Jay (@Rich_Dawg1), on Tuesday, February 28, tweeted a video with claims that an INEC official is thumb-printing ballot papers.
THE FINDINGS: The alleged video has been online since 2015. It was also reshared during the 2019 elections. Although there is no full context to the clip, the footage does not relate to the ongoing Nigeria’s 2023 elections.
VERDICT: INCORRECT
SOURCE: YouTube (Alex Reports TV )
Claim 12
CLAIM: Former presidential aide, Reno Omokri tweeted that a pastor ‘loyal’ to Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi, is calling for a coup after the elections.
THE FINDINGS: Our findings showed that the said pastor, Prophet Ezenwa Ritabbi, founder of Christ as of Old Ministry in Plateau state, preached with regards to the election on Sunday February 26. The pastor was heard urging his congregation to allow things go as God permits stressing that Nigeria is not worth dying for. On his Twitter page, the pastor also called on INEC to ensure fair collation of the Nigerian election results, warning that doing otherwise may be the end of Democracy in Nigeria. The pastor did not call for a coup at any time.
VERDICT: MISLEADING
SOURCES: YouTube (Prophet Ritabbi- God of now now TV), Twitter.
Claim 13
CLAIM: Some social media users claim that a presidential candidate must secure 25% of votes cast in the FCT before he can be declared a winner.
THE FINDINGS: Section 134 (2) of the Electoral Act 2022 says a candidate must have the majority of votes cast and secure at least 25% of votes cast in at least 24 states in the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory. What this provision means, according to legal experts, is that FCT is included among the 24 states (two-third) hence securing 25% of votes cast in the FCT is not compulsory to deem a presidential candidate winner.
VERDICT: INCORRECT
SOURCE: Electoral Act 2022
Claim 14
CLAIM: A viral WhatsApp video allegedly shows Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the APC, condemning party members in some parts of Lagos over their failure to win their Local Government Areas (LGAs).
THE FINDINGS: An InVid analysis shows the video is unrelated to the current election. NFC found a version that was posted four years ago on LinkedIn.
VERDICT: INCORRECT
SOURCE: LinkedIn
Claim 15
CLAIM: A video sourced from Arise TV and shared by a Twitter user (@princejoseph0), shows the PDP chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, saying Bauchi and Gombe States have exactly the same results.
THE FINDINGS: Live results published by Civic Hive, and Dataphyte, collated from the iREV and declared at the National Collation Centre, shows Bauchi and Gombe do not have the same results. In Bauchi, APC had 316,694; PDP 426,607; NNPP 72,103, and LP 27,373.
APC had 146,977, PDP-319,123, NNPP-10,520 and LP-26,160 in Gombe.
Live results from Gombe State collation centre support this finding.
CLAIM: A Facebook user claims president Muhammadu Buhari has approved former president Olusegun Obasanjo’s letter to cancel the election.
THE FINDINGS: Former president Olusegun Obasanjo, issued a statement on 27 February, appealing to President Muhammadu Buhari to cancel elections that do not pass the credibility and transparency test. Responding to this, a statement by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said Obasanjo’s letter was a “willful incitement of violence” and asked him not to truncate the elections with his “inciting, self-serving and provocative letter”. The statement added that anyone dissatisfied with the outcome of the elections should follow the necessary legal procedures. At no point did President Buhari approve President Obasanjo’s request to cancel the election.
VERDICT: INCORRECT
SOURCE: Federal Ministry of Information and Culture
Claim 17
CLAIM: A Facebook user, Sagacious Bello Lukman, claims that the Labour Party (LP) candidate Peter Obi won the presidential election in all six area councils in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
THE FINDINGS: The Facebook post got the number of votes pulled by the top contenders right. However, it was incorrect to claim that Obi won all six area councils in the FCT. Media reports of the results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) show that Obi won in four area councils while the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, won in two LGAs.
VERDICT: INCORRECT
SOURCE: Premium Times
READ NIGERIA’S 2023 GENERAL ELECTION LIVE-CHECKS BELOW:
*This live-check was jointly researched and written by members of the Nigerian Fact-Checkers’ Coalition (NFC): Nurudeen Akewushola, Faith Abeka, Fatimah Quadri (FactCheckHub); Rosemary Ajayi (Digital Africa Research Lab); Daniel Adaji (The Insight); Elizabeth Ogunbamowo, Lois Ugbede, Cole Praise, Silas Jonathan, Temilade Onilede, Lateef Sanni (Dubawa); Catherine Adeniyi, Motunrayo Joel, Allwell Okpi, Seyi Awojuyigbe, Fatimah Abubakar, Abisola Olasupo (Africa Check); Rejoice Ewodage, Hannah Ajakaiye (FactsMatterNG), Shehu Olayinka and Bamas Victoria (ICIR).
It was edited and approved for publication by Kemi Busari, Caroline Anipah, Simbiat Bakare (Dubawa), David Ajikobi (Africa Check), Ajibola Amzat, and Opeyemi Kehinde (FactCheckHub).
