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Claim
The Deputy National Youth leader of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Timothy Osadolor, in an interview with El-Ameen Ibrahim, a reporter with the Punch Newspapers, claimed that Sowore received ‘34,000 or 36,000 votes during the 2019 presidential election’.
In response to the question, What do you think of the support Obi seems to be enjoying among the youth?
Timothy Osadolor said, “The Obi movement is just a passing fad. Omoyele (African Action Congress presidential candidate) Sowore wielded more power in 2019; at the end of the day, he received only 34,000 or 36,000 votes”.
This can be seen on page 7 (Politics Pulse) of the Punch newspaper that was released on the 30th of August, 2022. Further keyword searches revealed that the interview was also posted on the newspaper’s website.
We checked the claim and found that it is MISLEADING.
Punch Newspaper is adjudged the most widely read newspaper in Nigeria with coverage in all 36 states of the country, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Who Is Sowore Omoyele?
Omoyele Sowore, born on 16th February 1971, is a Nigerian human rights activist, pro-democracy campaigner, and founder of an online news agency Sahara Reporters. He was the President of the University of Lagos Student Union Government between 1992 and 1994 where he was involved in anti-cultism and anti-corruption advocacy.
Sowore is a 2023 Nigerian presidential candidate for the African Action Congress (AAC) party and previously contested in the 2019 election under the same party.
ROUNDCHECK Findings
On 25th February 2018, Sowore announced his intention to run for the presidency in the 2019 Nigerian general election. In August 2018, he founded a political party, the African Action Congress (AAC), for which he served as the presidential flag bearer in 2019.
On the 6th of October 2018, following the successful primary elections at the AAC’s national convention, Omoyele Sowore emerged unchallenged as the presidential candidate for the party. On the 22nd of October 2018, Sowore revealed Rabiu Rufai, an expert in public health intervention from Jigawa state, as his running mate for the 2019 presidential election.
On the 23rd of February 2019, Muhammdu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC), polled 15,191,847 votes to win while his main contender, Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party got 11,264,977 votes to come second. Sowore came fifth with 33,953 votes.
The election result was announced live on different media organizations on the 25th of February.
With the aid of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) data, ROUNDCHECK was able to get the declaration of the 2019 presidential result. The result showed that Omoyele Sowore of AAC had 33,953 votes.
The Deputy National Youth leader of PDP, Timothy Osadolor had previously claimed in his newspaper interview that Omoyele Sowore had 34,000 or 36,000, we found out it was not true compared to the results released by INEC.
Verdict
Timothy Osadolor might have been trying to get the correct figure of Omoyele Sowore’s result in the 2019 presidential election by quoting two separate figures (34,000 or 36,000); while the closest to the correct figure is 34,000 which he mentioned– that doesn’t still make it correct.
The claim by Timothy Osadolor that Omoyele Sowore got ‘34,000 or 36,000’ votes during the 2019 presidential election is MISLEADING, as research has shown Sowore got 33,953 votes.
If you suspect or see any false claim, tag us @roundcheck or send it to admin@roundcheck.com.ng.
