Multiple social media users have claimed that the resident electoral commissioner (REC) in Rivers state wore a cap with embroidery resembling the insignia associated with President Bola Tinubu and his supporters.
An X user @PO_GrassrootM with over 450,000 followers posted an image with the caption “INEC state commissioner wearing Bola Tinubu’s cap”.
The post has garnered 1,545 reposts, 134 quotes, and 3,257 likes.
The image attached to the post is a screenshot of a news report published on YouTube by Arise Television, a national broadcast outfit.
Those who uploaded the post on social media insinuated that officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) are no longer hiding their partisan interests.
Other versions of the post are here, and here.
VERIFICATION
Checks by TheCable showed that the viral image was taken from a news report video published by Arise TV on YouTube on October 3, 2024.
The report was captioned ‘INEC RIVERS DENIES RELEASING VOTER REGISTER RO (sic) RSIEC’.
The Cable observed that the news report, which lasted less than four minutes, contained separate press briefings of Johnson Sinikiem, INEC REC in Rivers, spokesperson of Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC), and chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The report focused on the controversy trailing the Rivers LGA elections scheduled for October 5.
In the video, Sinikiem said the INEC has not officially released the voter register to RSIEC in compliance with the federal high court’s order to restrain the commission.
Sinikiem was not wearing a cap during his press briefing on the LGA elections.
However, in another press briefing on the LGA elections saga, Tony Okocha, factional chairman of the APC in Rivers, was wearing a cap with Tinubu’s insignia.
The video clip of Sinikiem’s press briefing was merged with Rivers APC’s to form a new report on the controversy trailing the election.
The man in the viral screenshot wearing a cap with Tinubu’s insignia is Okocha.
VERDICT
The claim is false and misleading as the man in the viral image is Okocha not Rivers INEC REC.
