Lokoja, Kogi state – A post on the popular social networking site, Facebook, claims that Yahaya Bello, the immediate past governor of Kogi state, said he helped President Bola Tinubu to rig the 2023 election.
Recall Tinubu was declared the winner of Nigeria’s presidential election in 2023.
There is no evidence Yahaya Bello said Peter Obi won the 2023 presidential election but he helped rig it for Tinubu
Beware of fake on Yahaya Bello and President Bola Tinubu. Photo credits: Alhaji Yahaya Bello, Mr. Peter Obi
Source: Facebook
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, announced the results on March 1, 2023.
Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party garnered a total of 8,794,726 votes, defeating his two main rivals: Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who secured 6,984,520 votes; and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), who scored 6,101,533 votes.
The Facebook claim about Bello’s alleged statement on Tinubu reads:
“Tinubu is a thief, I helped him rigged the 2023 election, Peter Obi won him with great margin – EFCC has no right to arrest me because the President of Nigeria is not illegal – Yahaya Bello purportedly opens up.”
Statement ascribed to Yahaya Bello not true
Similar posts can be found here and here.
Following the claim, a fact-checking platform, Africa Check, decided to investigate it.
After its scrutiny, the platform said it found no credible media report about Bello making such a statement.
