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FACT CHECK: Is INEC’s Returning Officer in Nasarawa dead?

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CLAIM: Viral posts on Twitter and WhatsApp claim that the Returning Officer of the Independent National Electoral Commission in the Nasarawa governorship election died in a car accident.

VERDICT: False!

FULL TEXT

The March 18 governorship election in the North-Central Nasarawa state is trailed by protest by residents of the state who claimed that they did not vote for the reelection of Governor Abdullahi Sule. The protesters who were mostly women went topless and were seen in videos on social media expressing their anger over the outcome of the election.

The electoral commission announced that the governor won the election with 347, 209 votes, to secure a second term and defeat his closest rivals – David Ombugadu of the Peoples Democratic Party who scored 283,016 votes and Abdullahi Maidoya of the New Nigeria People’s Party who scored 11,726 votes.

While women protested topless on Wednesday against Sule’s reelection, the PDP on Thursday began a 7-days protest against INEC. The PDP claims that it won the election.

Read also:FACT CHECK: Has the Nigerian Police filed criminal charges against Gov Adeleke?

With protests still rocking the state, a picture of a man is being circulated on social media. It is claimed that he was the Returning Officer in the election, and he died in a ghastly car accident after the topless women cursed him for allegedly rigging the election for the governor.

Below are some of the posts with this claim:

VERIFICATION

Ripples Nigeria found that the Returning Officer in the Nasarawa governorship election is Professor Ishaya Tanko. He is the Vice Chancellor of the University of Jos, Plateau State. He is not the man in the circulated picture.

CONCLUSION

Viral claim that the RO in the Nasarawa election is dead is false. The circulated picture is not that of the RO.

By Oluwatobi Odeyinka

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