A Facebook post published on the morning of Nigeria’s 23 February 2019 elections claims President Muhammadu Buhari voted for his main opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party.
Within days the post by the I Stand with PDP page had been shared over 6,800 times and garnered more than 1,000 comments and 2,700 reactions.
It reads: “Breaking: Buhari mistakenly voted for PDP this morning… #CongratulationsPresidentAtiku!!!” The photo shows Buhari raising a ballot with an ink mark next to the PDP logo.
A Google reverse image search reveals it’s a doctored version of a photo of Buhari voting in Nigeria’s 2015 elections.
The post congratulated PDP presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar while the polls were still open. Only the Independent National Electoral Commission can officially announce the winner of national elections in Nigeria. (Note: Buhari has since been declared as re-elected.)
We debunked the claim on election day in a fact-check published on CrossCheck Nigeria, a collaboration of over a dozen newsrooms aimed at combating misinformation and disinformation about the 2019 election.
But the hoax has continued to make the rounds on Facebook, days after the elections. – Allwell Okpi (27/02/2019)
Within days the post by the I Stand with PDP page had been shared over 6,800 times and garnered more than 1,000 comments and 2,700 reactions.
It reads: “Breaking: Buhari mistakenly voted for PDP this morning… #CongratulationsPresidentAtiku!!!” The photo shows Buhari raising a ballot with an ink mark next to the PDP logo.
A Google reverse image search reveals it’s a doctored version of a photo of Buhari voting in Nigeria’s 2015 elections.
Claim debunked on CrossCheck Nigeria
The post congratulated PDP presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar while the polls were still open. Only the Independent National Electoral Commission can officially announce the winner of national elections in Nigeria. (Note: Buhari has since been declared as re-elected.)
We debunked the claim on election day in a fact-check published on CrossCheck Nigeria, a collaboration of over a dozen newsrooms aimed at combating misinformation and disinformation about the 2019 election.
But the hoax has continued to make the rounds on Facebook, days after the elections. – Allwell Okpi (27/02/2019)
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