On March 17, 2023, Babatunde Fashola, the Minister for Works and Housing, who doubles as the Director for the Election Planning and Monitoring Directorate of APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), granted an interview on Channels TV.
Speaking on his role in the just concluded general election and how his party won the election, Fashola made these claims.
Claim I: The 2023 General Election had the least reported incidence of violence.
Verification: Daily Trust reported that a coalition of Civil Society Organizations reported that the just-concluded general election was the least violent poll ever conducted in Nigeria since 1964/1965.
The coalition noted that between 13 and 28 people were reportedly killed as a result of the election.
Data mined by Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) in partnership with ACLED showed that about 109 persons have been killed in political violence recorded from the start of the year to 10 March 2023 — before the guber polls. During and after the guber poll, CDD reported increased violence across the country.
While there was remarkable violence in the 2023 election, the numbers from the 2019 and 2011 elections seem to be higher.
According to a report by SBM Intelligence, 626 people were killed during the 2019 election cycle. For the 2011 elections, more than 800 people were killed in post-election violence.
However, in the 2015 election, fewer deaths were recorded. According to Nigeria Security Tracker, there were 106 documented election-related deaths. Sixty-two of those people were killed in the nearly seven months preceding the election.
Verdict: Inaccurate. While there is no single metric for measuring election violence, CDD Election War Room found that there were fewer deaths recorded in the 2015 electoral cycle than recorded in 2023.
Claim II: Broadband costs have dropped significantly over the last 10 years
Verification: A report by Techpoint Africa shows that data prices fell by 25% between 2014 and 2019.
According to the report, one gigabyte of data cost $11.18 (₦1,833) in early 2014 and fell to $2.78 (₦1,264) by the end of 2019.
Isa Pantami, the minister of Communications and Digital Economy said the average price of one-gigabyte data has reduced to N350 (less than $1) in 2023; a reduction from N1200 in 2019.
So with Techpoint’s data and the minister’s revelation, the broadband price of one gigabyte has reduced from about N1,264 to N350 in the last 10 years.
Verdict: True. The claim that broadband cost has declined in the last 10 years is true.
Claim III: Has the PDP been competitive for 24 years?
Verification:
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was officially founded at the International Conference Centre Abuja on August 31, 1998. The PDP had Alex Ekwueme as chairman of the Steering Committee while Jerry Gana served as the secretary.
In January 1999, PDP contested its first election as a registered political party in Nigeria’s governorship elections.
The PDP won in 21 states, the All Peoples Party (APP) won in 9 states and the Alliance for Democracy (AD) won in 6 states. PDP has won more actively in numerous sub-national elections since then.
Verdict: True. The claim that the PDP has been competitive for 24 years is true.
Claim IV: The APC constitution has no zoning of offices
Verification:
Speaking about the political lobbying ongoing about the incoming national assembly offices, Fashola said his party, the APC, is not like the PDP and does not have zoning of such offices in its constitution.
However, CDD Election War Room found that the APC Constitution, article 20, paragraph (iv) e acknowledges zoning, otherwise known as the rotation of power.
The party’s constitution states that “the National Working Committee shall subject to the approval of the National Executive Committee make Rules and Regulations for the nomination of Candidates through primary elections, All such Rules, Regulations and Guidelines shall take into consideration and uphold the principle of Federal Character, gender balance, geo-political spread and rotation of offices, to as much as possible ensure balance within the Constituency covered.”
While Bola Tinubu was aspiring for the party’s ticket, his team in the APC harped on the power rotation message to push his position, claiming that the presidency should constitutionally return to the south.
Verdict: False. The claim that APC constitution has no zoning is false. The concept of power rotation, geo-political spread/zoning is stated in the party’s constitution.
Claim VI: All of the accusations that have been levelled against Bola Tinubu have either been unproven or have no evidence offered in support of them.
Verification:
Amidst numerous accusations levelled against Tinubu, one of them that has evidence is the alleged drug dealing and money laundering case.
A US court released certified true copies of documents linking Bola Tinubu to a drug dealing and money laundering case in Chicago.
The court papers revealed that Bola Tinubu and two others named K.O. Tinubu and Alhaji Mogaji were involved in illicit drugs and money laundering, leading to the forfeiture of about $460,000 in their Heritage Bank and Citibank to American authorities in 1993.
While Tinubu was not convicted, there is a record of the indictment, invalidating Fashola’s claim.
Verdict: False. The claim that all accusations levelled against Bola Tinubu have been unproven or have no evidence is False. There is evidence of an indictment, which led to civil forfeiture to the tune of $460,000.
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