Real truth emerges over viral claim suspects found with voters’ cards after 2023 election are Igbos

• Claims have appeared online saying the Nigerian Army arrested several citizens of Igbo extraction
• The posters said the suspects were nabbed for possessing permanent voter cards (PVCs)
• A fact-checking platform investigated the claim and shared its findings in a report published on Thursday, June 27

Legit.ng journalist Ridwan Adeola Yusuf has over 9 years of experience covering politics and public journalism in Nigeria.

Akwa, Anambra state - In May 2024, a blog, Lagospedia claimed that some Igbos were arrested by the Nigerian army in Lagos state with a large number of permanent voter cards (PVCs).

The blog published the claim via its verified X (formerly Twitter) handle, but did not provide a source.

An official of INEC sorts out the PVC of voters ahead of the February 25 presidential election. Photo credit: Pius Utomi Ekpei
Source: Getty Images

The claim paints a picture of Igbo people fraudulently trying to ensure that their preferred candidate emerges as Nigeria's president in the 2023 elections.

Verification of the claim against Igbos

But is it true that after the presidential election, the Nigerian Army arrested some Igbos with PVCs? A fact-checking platform, Africa Check, investigated.

Indeed, some people were arrested with PVCs in the build-up to the March 18, 2023 election in Lagos state.

The arrest was reported in the media on March 9 2023 — days after the election.

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

Therefore, Africa Check ruled that there is no evidence that the suspects are Igbos.

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Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 election, said the "establishment of criminality" was responsible for the failure of the result viewing portal (IReV) portal and the purported failure of the INEC servers.

Obi, who insisted that the people must one day make it to work, explained that popular e-commerce company, Amazon, testified there were no glitches recorded globally on the day of the presidential election.

Source: Legit.ng