TheNewsGuru

Tag: Ballot Snatchers

  • FACT-CHECK: Did the Nigeria police gun down ballot snatchers during Saturday’s polls?

    FACT-CHECK: Did the Nigeria police gun down ballot snatchers during Saturday’s polls?

    A video has gone viral showing gunmen arriving at a polling unit on motorbikes to cause disruption to ongoing election.

    The masked men scared everyone away as they brandished their riffles and went on to destroy the mounter polling booths and election materials.

    Moments afterwards, gunshots were heard as a team of policemen closed in on the hoodlums and gunned down two of them.

    Claim: The video went viral on Saturday just as presidential and parliamentary elections were held in Nigeria and continued to be shared on Sunday, giving the impression that the event has taken place at a polling unit in the country.

    A twitter handle @KNUST_GAINS, posted the video on Saturday at 12:23pm with the caption: “Ballot Box snatchers shot in Nigeria”.

    How true is this claim?: Checks by TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) has revealed that the video was shot in Ghana and was first published in 2020.

    The viral video was a training session of the Ghana Police depicting how they will deal with thugs sent to snatch ballot boxes at any polling unit during the December 7th 2020 election.

    The video was therefore intended to boost the confidence of Ghana citizens in the police’s ability to safeguard their votes during the 20220 general elections which saw the re-election of Incumbent President Nana Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

    The post  by @ @KNUST_GAINS gained over 28, 000 views,  274 likes and 51 retweets. In some of the retweets, the event to pinned to several locations in Nigeria such as Delta, Lagos  and Port-Harcourt states.

    Verdict: The claim that the video was recorded during Nigeria’s presidential and parliamentary elections on Saturday, February 25th 2023, is incorrect and misleading.

     

  • Death threats to ballot box snatchers: We’ll carry out Buhari’s order to the letter – Nigerian Army

    The Nigerian Army on Monday said it will carry out the orders from a controversial statement issued by President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday that all those planning to snatch ballot boxes may be carrying out their last illegal acts.

    The comment is already generating heated debates in the polity with many saying the president’s statement is a veiled sanction to security operatives to kill (extrajudicially) those who run afoul of the electoral law.

    The president made the statement at the All Progressives Congress (APC) caucus meeting on Monday.

    A leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, has, however, defended the president saying President Muhammadu Buhari was ‘misinterpreted’.

    The Electoral Act prescribes two years in jail, not death, for persons found guilty of snatching or destroying election materials.

    Lawyers also argue that Section 33 of the Nigerian Constitution gives instances where ”one may forfeit his/her life as a result of certain scenarios”.

    The Nigerian Army said it will obey ‘totally and effectively’ such order if it is given by Mr Buhari.

    “If Commander-in-Chief has given order to the Nigerian Army to that effect, be rest assured that order will be totally and effectively obeyed without any ifs or buts,” Army spokesperson Sagir Musa said on Monday.

    The Nigerian Army had earlier said it would deploy personnel for the elections, but only on contingent bases on the outer perimeter of communities rather than near polling units.

    President Buhari on Monday afternoon ordered security forces to be ruthless against anyone caught snatching ballot boxes after citizens had voted.

    ”Anybody who decides to snatch boxes or lead thugs to disturb the election, maybe that would be the last unlawful action you would take. I have given the military and police the order to be ruthless.

    ”I am going to warn anybody who thinks he would lead a body of thugs in his locality to snatch boxes or to disturb the voting system; he would do it at the expense of his/her own life,” the president said at a gathering of the ruling All Progressives Congress on Monday in Abuja.