A video in circulation alleging that some Muslim clerics on Wednesday in Abuja stopped some persons from registering for their Permanent Voters Card, PVC, has been dismissed and tagged as false by the FCT police command.
AFRIPOST saw a video in circulation with a female voice claiming that some clerics were unhappy that majority of those registering were Christians who were in support of a particular candidate.
The incident alleged to have happened at the Federal Housing in Lugbe saw both officials and those who came out to register, leaving the venue for fear of being attacked by the clerics.
According to the narrator who claimed to be an official, the registration had been quite peaceful until the clerics called their colleagues that, ‘Harina’ meaning Christians were gathering to do their PVC registration, and that supporters should come to the venue to disrupt the process.
She said: “As you can see, we had to quickly leave so that we will not endanger our lives.
“See them. See them. So you can see them. The once with the mustache and the rest of them.
“They are making calls to cause crisis in Lugbe, Federal Housing. And the people are upset, but for our safety, we have to leave. For our safety, we have to leave. They don’t want Peter Obi. They know that everybody is out for Peter Obi. They want to disrupt it and stop everything.”
The visibly frustrated prospective voters were heard in the video appealing to the officials to continue with their registration. Meanwhile, a voice was heard at the background ordering everybody to leave.
But when AFRIPOST contacted the FCT police command for confirmation, the command’s spokesperson, Josephine Adeh said she was not in the country, hence she couldn’t comment. She, however, referred our correspondent to her Deputy, ASP Oduniyi Omotayo who is currently standing in for her.
But Omotayo, who dismissed the report, said an NGO helping to get people registered had allegedly started to demand money from the people before trouble started.
He said the incident was not in any way connected to clerics chasing Christians from the registration centre.
He said: “As at when we caught wave of the erroneous information (about 7:30am ) the DPO Lugbe led a team of Policemen to the said venue, registration wasn’t going on and no one was found at the venue.
“Preliminary investigation reveals that the video was not taken yesterday but a day before yesterday and there was no violence of any kind at the scene.
“We strongly urge members of the public to stop promoting fake news. While the investigation is ongoing, monitoring and surveillance continue on the scene.
“Monitoring continued and registration didn’t hold yesterday since the NGO allegedly taking money from the people were cautioned yesterday. The venue as seen is clear,” he clarified.
Only recently, crisis broke out at Dei-Dei timber market in FCT between traders and okada riders. This led to the death of some persons.
The Nation had also reported the killing of a 30 year old vigilante who was burnt alive over alleged blasphemy in the same Lugbe, Abuja.