A viral video of Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate, is circulating online with the claim that Obi said there is sit-at-home order by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) on election day.
Simon Ekpa, a Finnish-Nigerian separatist, posted the video on his Twitter handle on Saturday, February 25, 2023.
The tweet has since garnered over 26k views, 1,336 views and 1,402 likes as of when it was retrieved from the micro-blogging platform.
“The distrator called @PeterObi is crying, confirming that there is lockdown and Biafra has rejected him,” his caption to the video read.
This is coming amid ongoing Nigeria’s 2023 presidential and National Assembly elections.
Claim: Video shows Peter Obi, Labour Party presidential candidate, confirming IPOB sit-at-home order on election day.
Verification
The CDD Election War Room checked the video to verify the claim and found that it is false.
We traced the full length of the video to the live coverage by BBC News Pidgin. The video which was uploaded on Youtube shows Peter Obi in Agulu, a town in Anambra state.
Journalists had approached Obi to ask him about the security situation in his country home on election day.
Responding, Obi said he could not make comments on the security situation as the voting exercise was yet to start.
Obi, who reportedly walked around the streets earlier today, went further to explain that there was no movement as a result of the ongoing elections so people were not in the market he visited.
“Have you seen the people? Have you seen them? So, what am I going to be telling you now…No, I can’t tell you that one. If you want, do you want to walk around with me in the market so you see the security situation? They say no movement, so nobody is there,” Obi said.
Earlier, Usman Baba, the inspector-general of police (IGP), had ordered the restriction of vehicular movement across the country on the day of the presidential election. This is usual for national elections in Nigeria.
Verdict
The claim by Simon Ekpa that Peter Obi confirmed that there is IPOB sit-at-home order on election day is false.
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