CLAIM: “I Have Learnt My Lessons, I Will Conduct Better Elections In 2023 – INEC Chairman Begs Nigerians” — Post Nigeria
CONCLUSION: FALSE
EVIDENCE: The headline does not match the body of the news and INEC’s official twitter handle never posted any of the claims in the headline nor body of the news.
FULL TEXT:
On July 11, Post Nigeria published an article of 100 words surmised in 7 paragraphs with the headline: “I Have Learnt My Lessons, I Will Conduct Better Elections In 2023 – INEC Chairman Begs Nigerians”
The rest of the message reads:
“After the 2019 general elections, we are more determined than ever to improve on the quality of elections in Nigeria, come 2023. We have learnt a lot from the conduct of the last general elections. Vital lessons have been learnt from our interactions with Stakeholders, on how we can improve on our efforts.
“In all facets of our duties as Electoral Umpires, we are determined to improve on Electoral processes in the country, using the lessons we have learnt from the last general elections.
“After each election, plans for the next election should promptly commence. That is what we are doing now, as we pursue our determination to improve the Electoral processes in future”, Yakubu said.
In verifying this, we searched the Twitter Handle of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and found the closest information to ascertain the veracity of the claim.
The tweet contained a video of Mahmood Yakubu, INEC’s Chairman, addressing the Resident Electoral Commission and in the said video, none of the quoted words were present. This took place at the 12th post-election meeting held in Ikeja, Lagos on July 11th.
After the salutations and observation of protocols, the INEC Chairman said:
“You would recall that we promised to undertake a comprehensive review of the 2019 general elections internally by way of self-appraisal and externally through wide-ranging consultations with stakeholders.
“In the last one and a half months, we had 11 meetings in Abuja and Lagos on the 2019 general elections. Today’s interaction with the Resident Electoral Commissioners is the 12th meeting so far.
“At the end of these series of meetings and consultations, we are convinced that the Commission will learn vital lessons on the conduct of general elections – successes, challenges and the way forward.
“We consider these necessary because as a Commission, we are committed to the improvement of the nation’s electoral process.
“We are convinced that immediately after the conclusion of one election, planning for the next election should quickly be in earnest. This is precisely what we are doing in this series of engagement,” Yakubu said.
There is no evidence to show that INEC’s chairman begged Nigerians and admitted to a bad or manipulated election. This is, therefore, FALSE!
Here’s our note to readers: If you see a news report about an event (a meeting) that does not provide clear details about that event; or you see a story with such a compelling headline (headlines that evoke emotions) and the content seems so different, as in this case, DO NOT believe or share!
