FACT CHECK: Did INEC cancel all polling units in Alaba, Enugu, others?

CLAIM: A blogpost claimed that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) cancelled all polling units in the Alaba International Market, in the Ojo area of Lagos State. It was also stated that 70 polling units were cancelled in Enugu State.

VERDICT: False!

FULL TEXT

The blogger alleged that most polling units cancelled are in the stronghold of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi.

The post read: “My sister working with INEC just called me, that her polling unit was part of the 240 units canceled from voting by INEC in Imo state

“She said that nearly all polling Unit in Imo and Enugu has been reduced. Enugu have 200 polling unit and 70 was terminated by INEC.

“Alaba International market Lagos, all polling unit in that part was canceled and voter card suspended by INEC simply because voters name over there are all IGBO’s.

“A polling unit in Calabar surging to 1.5 million voters for Obi was canceled, their card VIN number which validate them as voters deleted from INEC dashboard. Ikechwu Ifeanyi who is the head of Voters card overseer in ladipo market lagos was removed and send to north, ladipo market Lagos have 2 million voters for Obi reason why he was removed.

READ ALSO:FACT CHECK: How true is Adamu Garba’s claim that Peter Obi failed to visit Muslim leaders in North?

“When you count how many votes that will come from South East and South South, it won’t surge up to 5m voters, giving Tinubu the power to emerge, president, no matter the little vote he gets from the North.”

VERIFICATION

The INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, last Monday, announced that the commission has cancelled 240 polling units across the country, thereby reducing the number of polling units nationwide to 176,606. The INEC Chief made the announcement at a meeting with political parties in Abuja.

Explaining the reason for the cancellation, he explained that many of the polling units have no registered voters, while others were cancelled for security reasons.

Contrary to one of the claims in the blog post, only three polling units were cancelled in Lagos, and none were in Alaba or Ladipo markets. The affected polling units include two in Victoria Island, Eti Osa, and one in Opebi/Allen in Ikeja.

Also, only four polling units were cancelled in Enugu State, as against 70 claimed by the blog. No polling unit was cancelled in Calabar. And more polling units in the North were affected.

Meanwhile, the INEC chairman has said that voters whose polling units were cancelled would be assigned to new polling units. He said they would receive text messages conveying their new polling units before the February 25 and March 11, 2023, general elections.

Below is a full list of the 240 polling units cancelled by the electoral umpire:

CONCLUSION

All the claims in the report are fabricated.

By Oluwatobi Odeyinka

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