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INEC declares Tinubu President-Elect

Olayinka SHEHU
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INEC declares Tinubu President-Elect

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Wednesday, March 1, declared the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, winner of Saturday’s presidential election.

The Chairman of the Commission and the returning officer for the 2023 Presidential Election, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, who announced the final result at exactly 4:10 am, after days of collating results from across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), said Tinubu polled 8,794,726 votes.

The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), former Vice President Atiku Abubakar finished second with 6,984,520 votes.

Labour Party (LP) candidate Peter Obi followed closely with 6,101,533 votes, while Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) had 1,496,687 votes.

Tinubu raked in 12 states, Atiku won 12 states, Obi won 11 states plus the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) while Kwankwaso won one state.

After announcing the result, the INEC chairman said a Certificate of Return for the President and Vice President would be presented by 3:00 pm on Wednesday at the National Collation Centre.

States Won

Tinubu: Rivers, Borno, Jigawa, Zamfara, Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Niger, Osun, Ekiti, Ondo, Oyo and Ogun states.

Atiku: Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Kaduna, Gombe, Yobe, Bauchi, Adamawa and Taraba states. He also won in Osun, Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa states.

Obi: Edo, Cross River, Delta, Lagos, FCT, Plateau, Imo, Ebonyi, Nasarawa, Anambra, Abia and Enugu states.

Kwankwaso: Kano State.

In his acceptance speech, Tinubu said: “I am profoundly humbled to serve as the 16th President of our beloved country. This is a shining moment in the life of any man and an affirmation of our democratic existence.

“I take this opportunity to appeal to my fellow contestants to let us team up together. It is the only nation we have. It is one country and we must build together.”

National Assembly Election: Ireti Kingigbe of LP wins FCT senatorial seat

Bankole ABE
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National Assembly Election: Ireti Kingigbe of LP wins FCT senatorial seat

THE candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) senatorial election held on February 25, 2023, Ireti Kingibe, has been declared the winner.

Ireti defeated the current senator representing the FCT, Philip Aduda of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to win the FCT election.

She got 202,175 votes, while Aduda got 100,544 votes.

The result was announced by the returning officer of the election, Sani Saka, in Abuja on Tuesday evening.

Ireti was initially leading before INEC cancelled results from the Bwari Area Council for over-voting.

The issue was, however, corrected on Tuesday.

NNPP calls for cancellation of presidential, NASS elections

Bankole ABE
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NNPP calls for cancellation of presidential, NASS elections

THE New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) has called for the cancellation of the February 25 Presidential and National Assembly elections.

The chairman of the NNPP, Rufai Ahmed Alkali, made the call while addressing the press in Abuja on Tuesday, February, 28.

Alkali urged INEC to cancel the entire process.

The party stated that the election results declared so far did not mirror the wishes of Nigerians.

“We must be aware that, no matter the situation in our country, all leaders must consider the stability and security of the country as paramount. Our country is bigger than any individual and is certainly more important than any vested interest.

“To save our democracy and our country, the present election results must not be accepted by Nigerians and by all friends of Nigeria.

“We are therefore calling on the immediate suspension of the announcement of results and the cancellation of the 2023 presidential election across the country,” the NNPP said.

The NNPP added that another election should be conducted as soon as possible.

The party also accused INEC of deliberately blurring its logo on ballot papers.

“We were shocked on the election day to discover that INEC has decided to use the most blurred image to represent the logo of NNPP.”

The party said the blurred image that INEC put on the ballot for the NNPP did not include the name of the party.

Earlier today, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP) and the African Democratic Congress (ADC) called on INEC to suspend the ongoing collation of the results of the presidential election.

Speaking on behalf of the three parties, the chairman of the LP, Julius Abure, alleged that INEC compromised the integrity of the February 25 Presidential and National Assembly elections.

He equally called for the resignation of the INEC chairman.

Court remands journalist in prison after 72 hours of illegal detention

Ijeoma OPARA
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Court remands journalist in prison after 72 hours of illegal detention

A MAGISTRATE court in Bauchi State has remanded WikkiTimes publisher, Haruna Mohammed Salisu, in prison after he had spent over 72 hours illegally detained by the police without charge.

According to a report by WikkiTimes, the governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed, ordered the state’s Commissioner of Police, Aminu Alhassan, to detain Salisu after he was arrested by the governor’s security details at Duguri, Alkaleri local council while covering the 2023 general elections.

The publisher is facing a one-count charge of inciting disturbance of public peace, under section 114 of the penal code.

Counsel for WikkiTimes, Idris Gambo, applied for Salisu’s bail, stating that the alleged offense was bailable.

However, the police prosecutor sent from the state Attorney-General’s office, Haruna Ibrahim, opposed Gambo’s application.

He cited section 211 of the 1999 constitution (as amended), which gives the Attorney-General the right to take over a case from the police.

Counsel for the state government also argued that the application was opposed in the interest of Salisu’s safety. He claimed that some members of the public might take the law into their own hands and attack him if he was granted bail.

However, Gambo objected to the arguments, stating that the police should apprehend those after his client rather than detain him.

“The authorities should instead go after those who want to take the law into their hands, and not imprison the threatened citizen,” he argued.

Despite Gambo’s objections, the presiding magistrate Ahmad Tijani ruled that Salisu be remanded in prison and adjourned the case till Wednesday March 1 for hearing.

According to WikkiTimes, the Bauchi police boss, through the command’s spokesman, Ahmed Wakil, said Salisu would not be released until the governor directed him to do so.

READ ALSO:

Salisu’s detention has raised concerns of press freedom in Nigeria, with many civil society organisations (CSOs) and journalists condemning the action.

The International Press Centre (IPC) has called on the Bauchi State government and the Nigeria Police to release Salisu immediately and unconditionally. The IPC stated that his detention was an abuse of power and a direct attack on press freedom.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) also condemned the arrest, describing it as a worrying development for press freedom in Nigeria.

Tinubu declared winner in Kogi

Mustapha USMAN
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Tinubu declared winner in Kogi

THE candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, has been declared winner of the  Presidential Election in Kogi State.

The INEC returning officer Professor Wahab Egbenwole, announced this in Lokoja on Tuesday, February 28.

According to the results announced by the INEC’s collation officer for the state, Tinubu polled a total of 240,751 votes while Atiku Abubakar of the PDP finished second with 145,104.

The presidential candidate of the Labour Party Peter Obi got a total of 56,217 votes while the candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Rabiu Kwankwaso, trailed with 4,238 votes.

A total of 484,884 voters were accredited for the election in the state, out of which 476,038 cast their votes.

READ ALSO:

Total votes recorded as valid were 456,790. Out of the number, 19,248 votes were invalid.

Tinubu won in 15 out of the 21 local government areas in the state.

The LGAs where Tinubu won are: Mopa/Muro, Kogi, Kabba Bunu, Ijumu, Igala/ Mela and Yagba West, Olamaboro, Ofu ,Yagba East, Dekina, Ankpa, including Lokoja, Okene and dah and Ajaokuta, While Atiku won in six local governments of the state: Ogori Magogo, Adavi, Bassa, Ibaji, Okehi and Omala.

Live Fact-Check: Nigeria’s 2023 Presidential, NASS elections

Editorial
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Live Fact-Check: Nigeria’s 2023 Presidential, NASS elections

Three days after the 2023 presidential and National Assembly election, The Nigerian Fact-checkers’ Coalition (NFC) brings you live-check of election-related misinformation and disinformation spreading online and on television  as collation and announcement takes place. 

See election day Live Fact-Check HERE

See results annoucement Live Fact-Check HERE

See collation day Live Fact-Check HERE

Do you have an election-related claim you want us to fact-check? Reach the NFC via WhatsApp here.

This page is constantly being updated with verified checks.

Here are the live-checks:

Claim 17

CLAIM: A Facebook user, Sagacious Bello Lukman, claims that the Labour Party (LP) candidate Peter Obi won the presidential election in all six area councils in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.  

THE FINDINGS: The Facebook post got the number of votes pulled by the top contenders right. However, it was incorrect to claim that Obi won all six area councils in the FCT. Media reports of the results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) show that Obi won in four area councils while the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, won in two LGAs.

VERDICT: INCORRECT

SOURCE: Premium Times

Claim 16

CLAIM: A Facebook user claims president Muhammadu Buhari has approved former president Olusegun Obasanjo’s letter to cancel the election.

THE FINDINGS: Former president Olusegun Obasanjo, issued a statement on 27 February, appealing to President Muhammadu Buhari to cancel elections that do not pass the credibility and transparency test. Responding to this, a statement by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said Obasanjo’s letter was a “willful incitement of violence” and asked him not to truncate the elections with his “inciting, self-serving and provocative letter”.  The statement added that anyone dissatisfied with the outcome of the elections should follow the necessary legal procedures. At no point did President Buhari approve President Obasanjo’s request to cancel the election.

VERDICT: INCORRECT

SOURCE: Federal Ministry of Information and Culture

Claim 15

CLAIM: A video sourced from Arise TV and shared by a Twitter user (@princejoseph0), shows the PDP chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, saying Bauchi and Gombe States have exactly the same results.

THE FINDINGS: Live results published by Civic Hive, and Dataphyte, collated from the iREV and declared at the National Collation Centre, shows Bauchi and Gombe do not have the same results. In Bauchi, APC had 316,694; PDP 426,607; NNPP 72,103, and LP 27,373.

APC had 146,977, PDP-319,123, NNPP-10,520 and LP-26,160 in Gombe.

Live results from Gombe State collation centre support this finding.

VERDICT: INCORRECT

SOURCES: Civic Hive and Dataphyte

Claim 14

CLAIM: A viral WhatsApp video allegedly shows Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the APC, condemning party members in some parts of Lagos over their failure to win their Local Government Areas (LGAs).

THE FINDINGS: An InVid analysis shows the video is unrelated to the current election. NFC found a version that was posted  four years ago on LinkedIn.

VERDICT: INCORRECT

SOURCE: LinkedIn

Claim 13

CLAIM: Some social media users claim that a presidential candidate must secure 25% of votes cast in the FCT before he can be declared a winner.

THE FINDINGS:  Section 134 (2) of the Electoral Act 2022 says a candidate must have the majority of votes cast and secure at least 25% of votes cast in at least 24 states in the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory. What this provision means, according to legal experts, is that FCT is included among the 24 states (two-third) hence securing 25% of votes cast in the FCT  is not compulsory to deem a presidential candidate winner.

VERDICT: INCORRECT

SOURCE: Electoral Act 2022

Claim 12

CLAIM: Former presidential aide, Reno Omokri tweeted that a pastor ‘loyal’ to Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi, is calling for a coup after the elections.

THE FINDINGS: Our findings showed that the said pastor, Prophet Ezenwa Ritabbi, founder of Christ as of Old Ministry in Plateau state, preached with regards to the election on Sunday February 26. The pastor was heard urging his congregation to allow things go as God permits stressing that Nigeria is not worth dying for. On his Twitter page, the pastor also called on INEC to ensure fair collation of the Nigerian election results, warning that doing otherwise may be the end of Democracy in Nigeria. The pastor did not call for a coup at any time.

VERDICT: MISLEADING

SOURCES: YouTube (Prophet Ritabbi- God of now now TV), Twitter.

Claim 11

CLAIM: A Labour Party supporter on Twitter, T. Jay (@Rich_Dawg1), on Tuesday, February 28, tweeted a video with claims that an INEC official is thumb-printing ballot papers.

THE FINDINGS: The alleged video has been online since 2015. It was also reshared during the 2019 elections. Although there is no full context to the clip, the footage does not relate to the ongoing Nigeria’s 2023 elections.

VERDICT: INCORRECT

SOURCE: YouTube (Alex Reports TV )

Claim 10

CLAIM: A Twitter user @Charles91253085 claimed that there was a protest at INEC office in Abuja on Monday, February 27 following alleged manipulation of the election results.

THE FINDINGS: Using InVid, the NFC discovered that the video had been shared by a Twitter user since Saturday, February 25, 2023 (on the election day).

But contrary to the claim, the incident happened in Warri, Delta State. The protesters were said to have stormed the INEC office in Warri chanting “We must vote”.

The protest was also reported by Punch Newspaper on the same day. Also, there were no media reports of a protest at the INEC office in Abuja by voters on that Monday.

VERDICT: INCORRECT

SOURCES: Punch Newspaper, InVid, Twitter

Claim 9

CLAIM: A Twitter user Melinda (@frederi63) claims that a polling unit results from Sokoto state was uploaded on INEC result viewing portal (iRev) for a polling unit in Oyigbo Central ward in Rivers state.

THE FINDINGS: The screenshot in the tweet shows the Twitter user referred to the Mayor’s Comp Open Space polling unit in Oyigbo Central ward in Rivers State. We viewed the result uploaded for the polling unit on INEC iRev and confirmed that the uploaded result is from Sokoto State. The polling unit result posted at about 6:27pm on 27 February 2023 is of Kaura Kimba polling unit in Wamakko local government area of Sokoto State.

VERDICT: CORRECT

SOURCE: INEC iRev

Claim 8

CLAIM: A Twitter user, Adetutu Balogun (@tutsy22) claimed that a University lecturer presented a wrong result at a collation centre.

THE FINDINGS: An extensive Google search revealed that the screenshot shared by Adetutu shows the presidential election results for Oyo State presented by the state collation officer, Professor Olusola Babatunde Kehinde. However, the screenshot of the excel sheet that she tweeted does not capture all the figures in the column which sum up to give the overall results for each political party.

VERDICT: INCORRECT

SOURCES: Channels TV, Daily Trust

Claim 7

CLAIM: A Twitter user Doctor Penking (@drpenking) claims that the INEC scored Labour Party (LP) 0 votes in Obot Akara LGA of Akwa Ibom State meanwhile LP had 135 votes in just 1 polling unit in Obot Akara (Village Hall, Mbakpo Nkap in Nto Edino IV ward).

THE FINDINGS: The tweet includes a screenshot of presidential election result update for Obot Akara local government area, which has 4,477 recorded for the All Progressives Congress (APC) and 8,029 for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the first two rows. Votes for  Labour Party (LP) in the third row and other party listed were yet to be inputted. The completed presidential election results show APC and PDP got the exact number of votes recorded on the screenshot and LP got 2,542 votes.

VERDICT: INCORRECT

SOURCES: Stears, Vanguard

Claim 6

CLAIM:  A Twitter user @uchePokoye tweeted a claim that the Labour Party won 40 % of the votes cast nationwide from the polling units gathered across the country.

THE FINDINGS:  Results of the presidential election from all the 36 states and the FCT are yet to be announced as the collation is still ongoing as of 11am on Tuesday, February 28, 2023.

VERDICT: INCORRECT

SOURCES:  Multiple media reports

Claim 5

CLAIM: A Twitter user @Naija_Activist tweeted a photo of Babatunde Fashola, Nigeria’s Minister of Works and Housing, with the narrative that he’s manipulating results on INEC’S portal.

THE FINDINGS:  A Google image lens search shows that the dashboard on the screen is not INEC’s iRev but the Civic Hive’s 2023 election portal. Civic Hive is a Lagos-based civic-tech organisation.

VERDICT: MISLEADING

SOURCE: Google Reverse Image search , Google Lens.

Claim 4

CLAIM: Social media users claim that INEC uploaded election results from Kano for Kaduna Polling Unit on iReV.

THE FINDINGS: Our findings showed that the result uploaded on the INEC iReV portal for PU 18/10/03/015 in Kakuri Gwari Ward/RA in Kaduna South LGA was actually from one of the polling units in Dawaki Tofa LGA of Kano State.

The NFC also observed the same act was replicated in some other PUs in Lagos, Imo and Rivers states where results from some PUs in the North were uploaded instead. 

VERDICT: CORRECT

SOURCE: INEC iRev portal

Claim 3

CLAIM: A Twitter user, #BBTitans (@chiboyskits) claims that INEC chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu was feasting at Tinubu’s house a day before the presidential election.

THE FINDINGS: Analysis conducted by the NFC reveals that the alleged video was shared two months ago on CocoTv YouTube channel and other platforms. It originally depicts moments Tinubu and his team were having dinner after his Chatham House appearance on December 5. 2022. Other extended clips from the scene also show that the man in the footage is not the INEC chairman.

VERDICT: INCORRECT

SOURCES: CocoTV and GoldmyneTV (YouTube Channels)

Claim 2

CLAIM: A Twitter user (@LPLagosInfo) on Monday night claimed that Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s (LP) presidential candidate, has won Anambra State with high margin.

THE FINDINGS: Checks by the NFC on credible media platforms such as ICIR, Punch and Premium Times did not show that there has been an official announcement of the presidential election results from Anambra State as collation of results is still ongoing as of Tuesday morning (February 28).

VERDICT: INCORRECT

SOURCES: ICIR, Punch, Premium Times

Claim 1

CLAIM: A breaking news headline posted on Facebook by Page 36 News claims that the PDP’s Atiku Abubakar has become the first 2023 presidential candidate to meet the mandatory 25% requirement of votes cast in at least 24 states.

THE FINDINGS: The Facebook post made on 26 February 2023 provided no evidence. The report differs from the headline. It says Abubakar was “projected to become the first candidate to meet the mandatory 25% requirement of votes cast in at least 24 States”. However, as of 7a.m. on Monday, February 27, 2023, INEC had declared presidential election results from less than 20 states.

VERDICT: INCORRECT

SOURCES: Stears, Channels TV 

 

Nigerian Fact-checkers' Coalition

*This live-check was jointly researched and written by members of the Nigerian Fact-Checkers’ Coalition (NFC): Nurudeen Akewushola, Faith Abeka, Fatimah Quadri (FactCheckHub); Rosemary Ajayi (Digital Africa Research Lab); Daniel Adaji (The Insight); Elizabeth Ogunbamowo, Lois Ugbede, Cole Praise, Silas Jonathan, Temilade Onilede, Lateef Sanni (Dubawa); Catherine Adeniyi, Motunrayo Joel, Allwell Okpi, Seyi Awojuyigbe, Fatimah Abubakar, Abisola Olasupo (Africa Check); Rejoice Ewodage, Hannah Ajakaiye (FactsMatterNG), Shehu Olayinka and Bamas Victoria (The CIR).

It was edited and approved for publication by Kemi Busari, Caroline Anipah, Simbiat Bakare (Dubawa), David Ajikobi (Africa Check), Ajibola Amzat, and Opeyemi Kehinde (FactCheckHub).

Tinubu defeats Atiku, Obi, others in Niger

Mustapha USMAN
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Tinubu defeats Atiku, Obi, others in Niger

ALL Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate Bola Tinubu has won the presidential election in Niger State. 

Tinubu secured a total of 375,183 votes, while Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Atiku Abubakar came second after polling 284,898 votes.

The result was announced on Tuesday, February 28 by Kogi State INEC collation officer for the presidential election Clement Alawa.

According to him, the candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, scored 80,452 votes while the candidate of the New Nigeria People Party (NNPP), Rabiu Kwankwaso, got 21,836 votes to come fourth.

Alawa disclosed that 827,416 voters were accredited for the election out of the 2,667,886 registered voters in the state.

The result showed that the total votes cast was 813,355 out of which 34,687 votes were rejected. Valid votes were 778,668

INEC responds to calls by PDP, LP to cancel election results as ‘misplaced’

Theophilus ADEDOKUN
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INEC responds to calls by PDP, LP to cancel election results as ‘misplaced’

THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has described as “misplaced” calls by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP) for the cancellation of the 2023 presidential election results and resignation of its chairman, Mahmood Yakubu.

INEC, in a statement signed by its chairman’s Chief Press Secretary, Rotimi Oyekanmi, described the allegation by the collation agent of the PDP, Dino Melaye, as “unfounded and irresponsible.”

The Commission mentioned that the results emanating from states indicated that a credible election had been conducted.

“There are laid-down procedures for aggrieved parties or candidates to follow when they are dissatisfied about the outcome of an election. Such procedures do not include calling on the INEC chairman to resign, or for the election to be cancelled.

“To be sure, aggrieved parties are free to approach the courts to ventilate their concerns and wait for the matter to be resolved. Making inciting comments capable of causing violence or unrest is unacceptable,” the statement read.

Oyekanmi noted that the 2023 general election processes were in their final stages of completion and it would be fair for aggrieved parties to allow the conclusion of the process and approach the courts with their evidence to pursue their cases.

Earlier today, the PDP, LP and the African Democratic Congress (ADC) had called on INEC to cancel the election.

The chairman of the LP, Julius Abure, had alleged that the INEC compromised the integrity of the February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections.

Abure said, “INEC conducted the election with the use of a method that predates the use of BVAS in this election. It is not free and fair.”

According to him, the election by Yakubu had been “irretrievably compromised”, and, therefore, the ADC, PDP and Labour Party would no longer be part of the collation in Abuja.

He stressed that the national collated results had been alternated.

“The national collation has heavily been doctored, a vote of no confidence is called and we, therefore, call for the Chairman of INEC, Mahmood Yakubu, to step aside in this process.

“In Bayelsa, Nasarawa, Rivers, the election results are still being taken to government houses for manipulations.

“The damage that has been done to the election conducted on Saturday is not something that can be corrected. The election is known to be manipulated after leaving the polling units despite the fact that they adopted BVAS.

“INEC should repeat this activity. They have failed and their mistake is incorrectible,” he said.

The chairman of the PDP, Iyorchia Ayu, called on the intervention of President Mohammadu Buhari to ensure a credible election.

Ayu said, “Buhari should intervene to save Nigerians from this electoral malpractice.”

The chairman of the ADC, Ralph Okey, also condemned the alleged malpractices, which he said happened during and after the elections.

“Some of the wrongs can be corrected but the level of rigging is widespread and the process requires that the result should be cancelled.

“The best thing to do is to follow what we say for the country to move forward,” he added.

2023 election: Disenfranchised for being identical twins

BAMAS Victoria
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2023 election: Disenfranchised for being identical twins

ON February 25, the day of Nigeria’s presidential and National Assembly elections, Paul Akinpelu shared a video of himself and his identical twin brother Peter at a polling unit.

The declarative caption on the video was, “We are voting here, no matter how long it takes.”

The video showed them spotting similar clothing styles. This is a norm with them. A look at their social media accounts shows that the musicians, who go with the name ‘Exceptional Twins’ on instragram, always dress alike.

They were to vote in South West Nigeria, Oyo State, in the Egbeda Local Government Area.

Long enough it took, Paul’s resolve to vote did not materialise.

Twenty-four hours after the post, in a phone conversation with The ICIR and later via Instagram, Peter said his brother, Paul, could not vote.

“Only one of us could vote because their machine indicated that the same face had already been scanned, as we look so much alike. That was after one of us did his. So, they suggested fingerprints, but it didn’t work also,” Peter stated.

He said they waited and made multiple attempts, but all to no avail.

Paul and Peter Akinpelu. Paul was not able to vote because his identical twin had voted.
Paul and Peter Akinpelu. Paul was not able to vote because his identical twin had voted

This is not an isolated incident.

Across the country, in Kaduna, Hussaini Muhammad Kabir and his identical twin Hassan were experiencing a similar challenge. One of them could not vote.

Hussaini, on his twitter account @hussainimk shared his experience. He said, “So I couldn’t vote because my twin voted before me. Unfortunately for me, the machine indicated that the same face was scanned. Fingerprint didn’t work also.”

He accompanied the tweet with a photo of their cards, which were eerily similar – image and data. Some twitter users who gave it a cusory look assumed it was the same person and information.

Like the Akinpelus, the Kabirs are not only identical, they also dress alike, as can be seen from images on their Instagram page.

In a follow-up conversation with The ICIR, Hussaini said, “I didn’t experience such during registering my permanent voters card (PVC).”

He, however, said they had encountered a similar issue at an airport while their international passports were being screened.

Another twin, Hussainah Uthman, stated in his comment section that the issue affected her and her sister as they were not able to get their PVCs. She wrote, “ Same thing happened to my sis, and I  @HassanahUthman even worst cause we couldn’t get our PVC cause of the identical face thingy.”

In south-south Nigeria, another set of identical twins – Uforo and Eduek Nsentip  – were battling accreditation challenge in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

One of them tweeted, “I was excited to vote today. Unfortunately, my suffrage was taken away from me due to what I call #Twinsuffrageexclusion. The INEC database recorded I had already voted because my twin voted before me. This is a problem that should be addressed.”

To a comment on how they should have presented themselves simultaneously to the electoral officers to show they were different persons, she replied nothing helped.

“They said there was nothing that could be done, that we should probably use different polling units next time,” she added.

Eduek, who spoke with The ICIR, explained that they did not have any challenge, aside some delay, while registering for their PVCs. She expressed deep sadness about her inability to vote.

“Personally, I felt very sad that this is the first time I should have voted as a Nigerian citizen, but couldn’t,” she stated.

Eduek had initially planned to do a vlog on ‘how my voting experience went’ to encourage more young people to vote, but that didn’t work out. The experience left her deflated, but not completely, as she, instead, decided to change direction. Now she and her twin -Uforo- are drawing attention to their plight with the hashtag #TwinSuffrageExclusion.

“As changemakers, we decided to spotlight this issue by forming a name, ‘Twin Suffrage Exclusion’, for it, meaning twins being denied their right to vote. We decided to use it as a hashtag so that we can get more twins to speak up on their experiences as well,” Eduek told The ICIR.

Twin sisters Uforo and Eduek Nsentip

She added that they have never had problems with any form of biometrics capturing. “After this happened, we were self-reflecting. We began to analyse that we never had issues like this when registering for JAMB or opening a bank account, among others,” she said.

Such instances are not new. In 2019, the Daily Trust newspaper captured the story of identical twins Ameena Hassana Sani and Hadiza Hussaina Sani, who had issues not only with registering for their PVCs, but also with enrolling for their national identification numbers (NIN).

“I started the capturing first. My fingerprints were scanned, and after they had finished capturing one hand and were about to move on to the next, my sister started hers. I could see that the computer was having trouble capturing hers,” Hadiza said in the report.

They asked the sister to wipe her fingers, but even at that, it took them a while to eventually capture it.

“The system kept rejecting her data, and they kept stopping and wiping her fingers. At that point, we didn’t think anything of it,” she told Daily Trust, adding, “eventually, they managed to capture hers.”

However, when they went to collect their voters’ card, only Hadiza Hussaina’s name appeared on the list.

When The ICIR reached out to the commissioner for information and voter education of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Festus Okoye, on the issue, he said, “Each individual, whether they are twins, has features specific to him or her.”

Okoye, however, was yet to respond to follow-up questions on why there were multiple cases of identical twins having issues in voting, and on what can be done.

For a Nigerian to vote, the potential voter goes to the the polling unit with her/his PVC. The card is authenticated, after which the voter is accredited either through a facial or fingerprint scan using the Bimodal Verification Accreditation System (BVAS).

A study titled ‘Fingerprint Recognition with Identical Twin Fingerprints’ published in 2012 and hosted on the US National Library of Medicine website, gave a possible insight on why the biometric authentication sees twins as one individual. The study states that twins’ fingers are much more likely to have the same pattern type than non-twins’ fingers.

It reads in part, “From the results, we can find that the automatic fingerprint verification system can successfully distinguish identical twins, though with a slightly lower accuracy than non-twins based on no matter which identification method.”

The study was conducted on fingerprint database that contains 83 twin pairs, four fingers per individual and six impressions per finger.

Some of the twins tracked by The ICIR said people had suggested the use of fingerprint for authentication since their twin siblings were accredited via facial mapping, but this did not work.

A software engineer, Sam Indyer told The ICIR why the workaround failed.

Indyer said it is because any aspect of the biometric – face, iris, fingerprint – that has been used for authentication will automatically flag all the other attributes.

“If they had used the facial recognition for the first twin, using fingerprint to authenticate the second twin, in this case, it will still flag it because it has already recognised the first twin as authenticated. So when someone is authenticated, it flags that both your face and fingeprint have been authenticated regardless of whether it was facial or fingerprint that was used,” he explained.

There were also cases of the BVAS not differentiating fraternal twins, said a research analyst with the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Afolabi Adekaiyaoja.

In a chat with The ICIR, Adekaiyaoja said, “We have seen quite some limitations in terms of BVAS for older citizens; we are concerned that such issues can play a role in unintentionally disenfranchising parts of the country.”

He added that they would be working on a comprehensive report on the use of technology in the election to mitigate issues that may arise in subsequent polls.

He said, “One thing we are also looking at is the impact of the machines, especially, if they were not fully calibrated, and especially where they might duplicate functions, and also if there were any unintentional clearing or cleaning process in terms of the data that, let’s say, unintentinally nullifies two voters that might have seemed quite similar because we have also heard the same thing about fraternal twins, not even identical twins.”

Ensuring a more robust vetting process and expanding the mock to include these factors are things that can be included in future mock accredidation exercises, he proffered.

*Produced in partnership with the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) with support from Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO).

Landwey falsified information to get our website suspended – FIJ

Ijeoma OPARA
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Landwey falsified information to get our website suspended – FIJ

THE Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ) has said that Olawale Ayilara, owner of a real estate investment company, Landwey, provided fake information to its service provider Digital Ocean, which has led to the suspension of its website.

This was contained in a report by the FIJ on Tuesday February 28.

According to the FIJ, Landwey’s action was a result of an investigation published by the media outlet, revealing that the real estate organisation received the sum of N42 million from a client and failed to provide the property paid for, 21 months after.

Following the investigation, Landwey had sent emissaries to the FIJ founder Fisayo Soyombo with an appeal to take down the story, which was declined.

However, about 10 months after the investigation, Digital Ocean accused the FIJ of copyright infringements.

The service provider stated that someone had sent an email, claiming ownership of the FIJ’s investigation on Landwey, titled, ’21 Months After Taking N42m, Wale Ayilara’s Landwey Fails to Give UAE-Based Nigerian His Property.’

Digital Ocean identified the claimant as Luis Felipe Colina from Venezuela, who claimed to have published the article in a private newsletter a day before FIJ.

However, the FIJ has described the email as a retaliation by Ayilara over the report published against Landwey.

“FIJ is in possession of evidence showing the email is the handiwork of an international PR firm employed by Ayilara to cleanse his digital footprints of negative comments,” the media organisation reported.

Without conducting investigations, Digital Ocean ordered that the story be brought down and when the FIJ refused, the website was pulled down.

“DigitalOcean did not conduct any investigation, which a basic tool like the Wayback Machine would have done for them. DigitalOcean did not even ask us to prove our ownership of the story. They had just one instruction: take the story down!” FIJ reported.

Describing the newsletter claiming ownership of the story in contention as fake, the FIJ noted that the subscribe button in the newsletter was unresponsive.

“There’s no other piece on that newsletter, and its ‘subscribe’ icon is unresponsive. It is impossible for anyone to subscribe to getting Colina’s past or future newsletters — because they simply do not exist.

“Three, https://iberonewsltd.com, the website on which the newsletter was supposedly hosted, does not exist. Any attempt to reach that website will only yield the following: ‘404. Not Found. The resource requested could not be found on this server!’ How could DigitalOcean have believed a non-existent website had been plagiarised by an existing investigative reporting outlet?” FIJ queried.

The news outlet also noted that Digital Ocean had previous records of pulling down investigations written by journalists.

“In FIJ’s case, DigitalOcean did not only block FIJ’s website, it rejected all our defences of being the original copyright owner. It then went ahead to blacklist FIJ,” the report read.

After blacklisting FIJ’s domain, Digital Ocean gave the organisation 48 hours to remove the domain and its content from the network.

“FIJ’s legal team are currently studying the development in its full scale, and will come up with recommendations within the next 48 hours,” the media organisation stated.

The ICIR reached out to Landwey on its involvement in the issue, through the phone number provided on its website.

The call was received by a man who identified himself as Emmanuel Ero and said he could only respond to enquiries on sales.

“I can forward you an email that you can send your requests to. Chat me on Whatsapp, so that I can send it to you,” Ero said.

However, at the time of filing this report, Ero had not responded to the Whatsapp message sent by The ICIR requesting for the email.

 

 

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