Claim: Video of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Distributing Cooking Gas Cylinders to Buy Votes
Verdict: Misleading
Context: The presidential and National Assembly elections have come and gone and attention has now turned to the gubernatorial and state assembly elections. However, as expected, the social media space was filled with misinformation and falsehoods from politicians and their supporters aimed at misleading the voting public to garner votes. CDD fact checkers compiled and fact-checked some of the lies that political actors put out in the public space. In the run-up to the elections, a video was trending on social media showing women with gas cylinders allegedly distributed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in order to garner votes in the 2023 general elections.
The video was giving the impression that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and politicians didn’t need cash to buy votes. The video was tagged ‘PDP gas cylinders souvenirs: Hope Emefiele now understands that politicians don’t actually need cash for vote buying’.
Verification: CDD fact checkers verified the video and found that it first emerged on social media in March 2021. Further checks showed that the said video emanated from the empowerment programme of Senator Uche Ekwenife, the lawmaker representing Anambra Central in the Senate. She was reported to have donated gas cylinder stoves to 650 women across the state.
Conclusion: Based on investigations and verifiable data, fact-checkers at the Centre for Democracy & Development can confirm that the video emanated from the empowerment programme of Senator Uche Ekwenife and was not distributed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in order to garner votes in the 2023 general elections. Therefore, the claim is false.