Oluwaseye Ogunsanya
Claim
A WhatsApp user shares a post claiming that INEC is recruiting for the 2023 general election.
Verdict
The claim is false, INEC is no longer recruiting and the website is fake.
Full text
A WhatsApp user shares a post claiming that INEC is recruiting for the 2023 general election.
The post which has been circulating on different WhatsApp platforms called for applications from interested individuals who wish to be part of the 2023 general election staff.
The post also listed positions such as supervisory presiding officer (SPO), registration area center (RAC), manager, assistant presiding officer (APO) and Presiding officer as the vacant.
With the general elections scheduled to hold in 53 days starting with the Presidential and National Assembly elections, it’s unsurprising to come across fake news such as this.
Verification
Checks by FactCheckElections on the website with the URL https://lyupz.com/2023-Inec-Staff-Recruitment show a section of the homepage where applicants are required to fill the application form.
After applying, applicants will be required to validate his name and choose his interested position from the list of positions. After doing this, the applicant will click on send. But what is interesting about this part of the website is that it has an interactive feature which looks exactly like that of Facebook’s.
So after the applicant has validated his name and the position interested in, he will be asked to share with his contacts on WhatsApp at different times till it gets to 100% then a confirmation email will be sent to the applicant.
INEC Recruitment Applications Has Closed
On September 7, 2022, the electoral commission announced that it will launch a portal for the recruitment of ad hoc staff such as supervisory presiding officers, presiding officers, assistant presiding officers, registration area technicians, and registration area centre managers for the 2023 elections.
The online portal for applications which was opened on September 14 has since ended on December 14.
As a result of the above, the claim in the WhatsApp post is false and the recruitment website is fake.
A short guide on how to protect yourself from fake news and websites by FactCheckElections is published here.
Conclusion
We can conclude from the verification process that the claim is false as INEC is no longer recruiting ad hoc staff for 2023 general elections and the website is fake.