Quadri Yahya
Claim
A message making the rounds on WhatsApp claims former president Olusegun Obasanjo stormed the Abuja office of the Independent National Electoral Commission to present ‘real results’ of all the 37 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
Verdict
False
Full Text
A message making the rounds on WhatsApp claimed that former president Olusegun Obasanjo stormed the INEC office in Abuja to present ‘real results’ of all the 37 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
The message restarted trending Sunday evening when result collation was ongoing across the country.
It reads: Breaking News: Obasanjo storms INEC collection center in Abuja with the real results of all the 36 state and FCT
INEC chairman was in shock when Obasanjo showed up in Abuja INEC collect with 2023 original result sheet for all States, how Obasanjo got the result and how he got the INEC SERVER password remains unknown as the INEC chairman’s request for the suspension of the presidential election.
The original result that Obasanjo had with him, shows Obi coming first with a 10M votes margin and Atiku coming second with 4 million votes ahead of Tinubu who couldn’t get 25% in each state that is required.
Verification
The former president Obasanjo endorsed the candidacy of the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
Reports have it that the former president voted at Ward 11, Zone 6, Unit 22, Abeokuta North Local Government early Saturday when the exercise commenced.
It was also reported that Obasanjo loses his polling unit to the Presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu who got 56 votes, while the Labour Party had 9 votes.
After casting his votes, Obasanjo spoke to the press where he commended the Independent National Electoral Commission for the introduction of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System.
Since then, nothing has been heard from the Obasanjo.
As of Sunday evening, the INEC Collation Centre In Abuja was still open where the electoral umpire was expecting state results.
FactCheckElections observed that a collage of images was attached to the post.
Using Google Reverse Image Search on one of the cropped-out images, it shows that the image showing Obasanjo, the Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde and a host of others has been online since May 2022.
A news report reveals that the picture was taken when governors of Oyo, Rivers and Benue States, Makinde; Nyesome Wike and Samuel Ortom, met with the former president, Chief Obasanjo, in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, over the 2023 presidential election.
Lastly, no report from credible media platforms that Obasanjo stormed the INEC office in Abuja.
Conclusion
FactCheckElections can confirm that Obasanjo did not storm INEC office in Abuja.