Pascal Arogorn Ibe
By Pascal Ibe
Introduction
“NDC and fake news. Is this how they want to rule Nigeria?” This was a question by a Facebook user, Francis Ndimkoha, under the comment section, which followed a screenshot of an X post made by former Kaduna West senator Shehu Sani that was recirculated by a Facebook page, Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) on Facebook recently.
NDC, in the last month, emerged as a third-force party, after the persistence of the leadership crisis in the African Democratic Congress and the former main opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party(PDP), in recent months.
The NDC’s emergence as the new bride and its recent wave in Nigeria was a result of the coming of the former Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso, also a former Kano State governor, into the party.
In the meantime, various political parties are conducting their primaries to elect their candidates for the state assembly, House of Representatives, Senate, Governorship and Presidential elections coming up in 2027.
Claim
The Facebook page shared a screenshot of Sani’s X post, claiming that a Kaduna Rep aspirant had recovered over N100m he gave out to delegates to get their votes.
Without mentioning the name of the politician, the screenshot attributed to Sani, further claimed that the aspirant later hired local vigilantes and hunters in the area to arrest and recover the funds from delegates after losing the rep ticket
Reposting the screenshot, the Facebook page named National Democratic Congress asked, E Dan reach like this?
The Facebook page did not state when the incident happened, however, comments under the post suggested that many believed that the incident occurred recently, especially during this season of party primaries in Nigeria.
Verification
First, FACTWATCH Nigeria’s simple findings indicated that contrary to the Facebook user’s comments accusing the NDC of misleading Nigerians, the Facebook page that reposted the screenshot was a parody account and cannot in any way be linked to the party.
See the official NDC Facebook page here.
From the screenshot that was attributed to Sani, this Fact Checker did a simple keyword search on Google and found out that the former Kaduna West senator indeed made the post on X — but it was in May 2022, four years ago.
Daily Trust, a Nigerian daily newspaper, in an online publication in 2022, reported that, according to Sani, an aspirant who failed to secure the ticket of the PDP for the House of Representatives election, reportedly recovered over N100 million from delegates with the use of vigilantes and hunters.
However, Daily Trust said it could not independently verify if the politician was real or being hilarious.
Sahara Reporters, a US-based online newspaper, also corroborated Daily Trust’s report.
No delegates, no indirect primaries in 2026 Electoral Act
Another proof that this screenshot circulated by Facebook is old is that there is no place in the 2026 Electoral Act, amended recently, for an indirect party primary, which gives room for delegate voting.
This means that the direct primaries election are now compulsory for every political party.
Verdict
MISLEADING
The screenshot of the post attributed to the former senator was old but was recycled by a parody Facebook page of the NDC to mislead the people. Therefore, it is MISLEADING.
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