Oluwaseye Ogunsanya
Claim
A report by Sahara Reporters, an online news platform, claimed that voters on Saturday beat a corps member to death in Abuja for voting multiple times using his thumbprint on many ballot papers for the presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, in the general elections.
Verdict
The claim is false, according to the FCT police command spokesperson, the corp member was not murdered by the mob as alleged.
Full Text
Sahara Reporters, an online news platform, reported that angry voters on Saturday beat a corps member to death in Abuja for voting multiple times using his thumbprint on many ballot papers for the presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, in the general elections.
According to the report, the corps member who was serving as the ad-hoc staff member for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was caught locking himself in a classroom at a polling unit located at LEA primary school, Lugbe, Airport Road, Abuja where he used his thumbprint on many ballot papers to vote for the APC.
The report further stated that from video footage of the incident seen by the news platform, an angry mob descended on the corps member, beating him to death.
Verification
FactCheckElections investigated the claim made by Sahara Reporters, we found out that the federal capital territory (FCT) police command has dismissed the claim.
In a statement on Sunday, Josephine Adeh, the FCT police spokesperson said the mob attacked the officer and corps member for fear of being disenfranchised after officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) arrived at the polling unit late adding that the corps member was not murdered as alleged.
“The FCT Police Command wishes to set the records straight concerning misinformation and disinformation on social media alleging that a Police Officer was caught with thumb-printed ballot papers,” the statement reads.
“This is not the fact as the Officer was only assisting Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Staff to salvage electoral materials after they were attacked by electorates at the polling unit.
“The incident which occurred at Polling Unit 009, Lugbe Local Education Authority (LEA) began when the officials of the INEC arrived the Polling Unit with incomplete electoral materials which aggravated the electorates who resorted to attacking the officials and destroying the materials alleging an attempt at disenfranchisement.”
Explaining further she said: “The officers, in an attempt to prevent the officials from being mobbed and the materials destroyed, assisted in moving some of the items, to the annoyance of the electorates who poured their anger on the officers as well as the officials.
“It is equally pertinent to state that the corp member who was attacked in the video was shielded and taken to safety by the Divisional Police Officer and his men from the Lugbe Divisional Headquarters. He was not murdered as alleged in trending news.”
Conclusion
The claim is false,the corp member was not murdered by the mob as alleged.