Claim
The candidate of the Accord Party in the ongoing Ekiti State Governorship Election, Hon Falegan Opeyemi David, put out a claim that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) is not working in his polling unit.
The claim was made in a video he posted on his Facebook page.
The post is increasingly going viral, with over 14k views, 298 likes, 149 comments and 63 shares, requiring that we check the facts.
Verification
We began by verifying his ward and polling Unit in particular which was not mentioned in his video and we found that he was to cast his vote in Ward 1 (Idofin Quarters) in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State.
To confirm the situation of things in the ward, we requested that our election observer covering the location visit the polling unit.
The observer reported that the issue with the BVAS was in the early hours of the process.
According to the observer, BVAS functionality was affected by the internet network.
Subsequently, the issue was resolved and voting started in the polling unit.
We checked the Facebook Page of the Accord candidate again to confirm the situation and found that he had cast his vote.
Screenshot of the Accord Party Candidate casting his vote and gotten from his Facebook page
However, he claimed in the post that there was vote buying in the polling unit.
Verdict
It was true that the BVAS was having issues in the early hours of the election, but it was resolved. The issue was as a result of poor internet network in the location.
The claim that BVAS was not working in the polling unit was misleading as it could make some voters sit back and not go to the polling unit to vote.
We are fact-checking his claim that there was vote buying.
