FACT CHECK: Did INEC officials prevent Igbos from registering for PVC in Lagos?
A Facebook video was posted by one Umuchiukwu Writers with the caption “Igbos living in Lagos denied PVC registration by Federal Government. Only Biafra will save Biafrans.” In the video, a voice was heard saying in Igbo that “We have not been allowed to register for PVC in Lagos and we have been here since […]
BVAS in use
A Facebook video was posted by one Umuchiukwu Writers with the caption “Igbos living in Lagos denied PVC registration by Federal Government. Only Biafra will save Biafrans.”
In the video, a voice was heard saying in Igbo that “We have not been allowed to register for PVC in Lagos and we have been here since 7am. INEC officials are only attending to those who speak in Yoruba and some Yoruba chiefs were present and allowing only Yorubas to register.”
Verification
It was obvious there was no queue nor did the video show any INEC official or Yoruba chiefs.
Daily Trust reached out to Umuchiukwu Writers to verify the authenticity of the video.
He said it was recorded “at Igbede and Ojo areas in the Ojo Local Government Areas of Lagos State on June 9, 2022.”
He however admitted that he was not present at the location.
“I received information from our Igbo brothers there,” he noted.
Meanwhile, in an interview with our correspondent, INEC National Electoral Commissioner for Information and Voter Education, Festus Okoye, denied that Igbo people were prevented from collecting PVCs.
He said, “The Commission and its officials will not engage in or tolerate any case of voter suppression. The commission has not received any official complaint of voter suppression other than the trending videos. Every Nigerian of registrable age living in any part of Nigeria is entitled to register.
“It’s a sovereign constitutional right. The CVR process has been on for 11 months. The present surge is a peculiar Nigerian 11th-hour syndrome. We have deployed additional IVED, fingerprint scanners, and Thermal Printers to states of acute pressure.
“We are monitoring the CVR process and will explore all options and do whatever is necessary to assist Nigerians register.”
Conclusion
Daily Trust can confirm that the video posted does not have enough evidence to the claim that INEC officials and some Yoruba chiefs prevented Igbos from registering for PVCs.
This fact check was done in partnership with the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD)