Claims that registered voters are being prevented from voting at polling unit (PU) 004 in Wuse Zone 2 during the ongoing FCT Area Council Elections have circulated on social media. Allegations include voters’ names not appearing on the register despite being duly registered, and polling unit changes being made without prior notice.
Verification
CDD War Room observers on ground at the polling unit confirmed that out of 751 registered voters accredited to PU 004, Wuse Zone 2 Primary School, only 504 names were displayed on the voters register. Since INEC protocol requires that only voters whose names appear on the displayed register can be accredited to vote, the remaining 247 voters whose names are absent are effectively unable to cast their ballots.
Election officials at the unit were unable to provide a clear explanation for the discrepancy, stating only that they were awaiting the missing information to be supplied, with no timeline given. CDD War Room further observed voters struggling to locate their Voter Identification Numbers (VINs) in the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), with no indication that manual accreditation would be offered as an alternative.
While some affected voters claim to have received prior notifications from INEC alerting them to a change in their polling unit, suggesting some may have been administratively reassigned, others received no such notification and have no record of any transfer, leaving them with no clear path to casting their vote.
Verdict: True
CDD War Room observers on ground confirm that registered voters are being prevented from exercising their civic right to vote due to an unexplained administrative discrepancy in the displayed voters register. At the time of this fact-check, INEC officials at the unit have failed to provide any cogent explanation or resolution.