Multiple Twitter users have shared a video showing Bola Tinubu speaking to a group of people, alongside claims to he was asking them to snatch ballot boxes.
The people are calling on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and Interpol headquarters “to do their job”.
A Twitter users posted a video with the caption “Tinubu giving orders? The video showed the presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC) party, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, saying ‘fight for it, grab it, snatch it, and run with it’”.
Another viral version of the image seen more than 200,000 times claims “Tinubu told APC members and thugs to snatch ballot box(es)”.
This has generated a lot of reactions from Twitter users. One of the comments made stated that “And that’s exactly what he sent his thugs to do! Snatch Ballot boxes and people’s mandates! Crazy old man!”
Did Tinubu say ballot boxes should be snatched?
The CDD Election War Room found a longer version of the video, which showed that the APC candidate was speaking to party members in December 2022 about political power and not ballot boxes.
The video was from a meeting with party members on December 5, 2022, in London, shortly after Tinibu made a presentation at the Chatham House.
Tinibu said “Political power is not going to be served in a restaurant. It’s not served in a la carte. Is what we’re doing here. Is being determined to do it, at all cost, fight for it, grab it, fight it, and run with it.“
Verdict
The claims making the rounds with the video which showed Tinubu saying “fight for it, grab it, snatch it, and run with it” are misleading. Tinubu did not mean to snatch or run away with ballot boxes as the video suggests. The longer version of the video shows that Tinubu meant “political power” and not “ballot boxes”.
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