Nigeria: No Evidence Suspects Found With Voters' Cards After 2023 Presidential Election Are Igbos

27 June 2024
Africa Check (Johannesburg)
By Muktar Balogun

No evidence suspects found with voters' cards after 2023 presidential election are Igbos

In Nigeria's southwestern state of Lagos, the presidential election in February 2023 wasn't without its disputes.

There were reports that Igbos living in Lagos were intimidated and prevented from voting by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

The battle for Lagos was between Yorubas and Igbos, or Nigeria's president Bola Tinubu and Peter Obi, the Labour Party's 2023 presidential candidate.

In May 2024, Lagospedia claimed that some Igbos were arrested by the Nigerian army in Lagos with a large number of Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs), a card that allows Nigerians to vote.

The X account, which appears to be based in Lagos and has more than 32,000 followers on X, didn't give a source for its data. We asked them for this information. We have yet to hear back.

But is it true that after the presidential election, the Nigerian army arrested some Igbos with PVCs? We checked.

Red flag - Tribal attack

A look at the account that posted the image brought up a series of posts that attacked Igbos.

The claim paints a narrative of Igbos taking matters into their own hands, illegally, to ensure that their preferred candidate emerges as president in the 2023 elections.

No evidence suspects' ethnicity is Igbo

Using keywords surrounding the arrest, Africa Check found that the arrest was reported in the media on 9 March 2023, days after the election.

During a press briefing, the Nigerian army spokesperson said three young men were arrested with 1,671 PVCs, following a tip-off.

In a separate media report, most of the recovered PVCs had 2022 as their registration number, with others had the years 2011, 2012 and 2021. All the owners are residents of Lagos state.

As well as PVC, the army found other items including ballot papers, cutlasses and Indian hemp.

In another report, the suspects gave their names as Seun, Toheeb and Kazeem which are all Yoruba and Islamic names.

"We were sleeping, when some soldiers stormed the apartment. We don't know anything about PVCs. This was our first time sleeping in that house," one suspect was quoted as saying.

The arrest was widely reported as being related to the recovery of PVC, but none of the media reports mentioned the ethnicity of the suspects.

There is no evidence that the suspects are Igbos.

Read the original story, with links and other resources.
Africa Check is a non-partisan organisation which promotes accuracy in public debate and in the media. Twitter @AfricaCheck and www.africacheck.org

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