Fact-check: Is APC Planning to Spend N6 Trillion to Rig 2023 Elections?

Fact-check: Is APC Planning to Spend N6 Trillion to Rig 2023 Elections?

Claim: A 6-minute and 1-second video containing thirteen slides document, which was said to have been leaked by a whistleblower recently emerged on Whatsapp claiming that the All Progressive Party, APC, has planned to use more than six trillion Naira from the national treasury to rig the 2023 general elections. 

Full-text: 

The video containing the leaked document alleged that APC planned to spend six trillion Naira which is equivalent to about ten billion dollars reads: “Plans to steal public funds for more than six trillion nairas by the APC to reap the 2023 general elections have been busted.

“This is contained in a leaked document provided by a whistleblower. The leak 13 slides document with the APC watermark in an official document of the APC. It details strategic plans to use N6, 500, 678, 948, 080 federal funds to buy voters and officials in 22 states controlled by the APC in what appears like a scam.

“A Ponzi scheme. This amount is almost half of Nigeria’s 2023 budget N6, 500, 678, 948, 080. This is about $11bn. It is calculated by using the paralog market rate of more than N600 to $1 or about $15.3bn using the official exchange of N425 to $1. The question is where is this money coming from? N6.5 trillion or is the APC printing money…?”

Verification:

Since the  alleged campaign funds in trillions of Naira was not reported in any of the credible news media, PRNigeria conducted a keyword search and the result revealed that the APC dismissed a similar claim in August 2021. 

In fact, the National Publicity Secretary of APC Barr. Felix Morka had debunked the claim, describing it as a “figment of opposition’s imagination,” in a statement released in June 2022. 

“The APC wishes to place firmly on record that the document is not of the party. We neither authored nor own any such document and it certainly did not emanate from our party.”

According to him, the document was engineered by the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in an attempt to get undeserved electoral favor from the public by smearing the APC with ‘electoral malpractice.’

Using the Facebook search bar, PRNigeria discovered that the claim originated from a user-James Williams-on June 27. 

Conclusion: Based on the facts gathered by PRNigeria, the claim that the APC plans to spend N6 trillion to rig the 2023 elections is MISLEADING

By PRNigeria 

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