Police speak on viral video of people arrested with BVAS machines

The Nigeria Police Force has reacted to a viral video showing some of its officers have arrested a group of people said to be engaged in electoral fraud having been found with some items including the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines belonging to the Independent National Electoral Commission.

The video surfaced on Tuesday on social media claiming that the persons were arrested at a building located in Maitama, Abuja, the country’s capital.

Reacting to the video, Muyiwa Adejobi, the police force spokesperson, said their findings showed that they were INEC engineers.

He said the police visited the building after a tip-off from residents of the area in Maitama, Abuja.

In a statement, on Wednesday, Adejobi disclosed that when the police arrived at the building, some electoral materials, including BVAS machines, were discovered.

The police spokesperson added that INEC confirmed that the occupants of the house are personnel of Emperor Technology, a firm outsourced by INEC to provide engineering services.

He said the force ‘’wishes to debunk, in strong terms, the trending news in the media confirming the arrest of some individuals in Maitama, Abuja, with electoral materials and some Bi-Modal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) machines, by operatives of the Nigeria Police Force.”

Adejobi said operatives of the Nigeria Police Force Intelligence Bureau (FIB), acting on a tip from residents of an area in Maitama who reported suspicious activities, visited the location, interviewed the occupants, and conducted a search on the house.

‘’In the course of the search, some electoral materials and BVAS machines were discovered in their possession. However, the Independent National Electoral Commission, when contacted, confirmed that the occupants of the house are staff of Emperor Technology, outsourcing engineering services to the INEC, and they were immediately released to go about their lawful business.

The force, urging well-meaning members of the public to discountenance the false and misconstrued narrative being spread by some sections of the media about the arrest of these individuals and their link with BVAS manipulation, charged media houses to do due diligence and ascertain the veracity of the information on the public space before spreading such to avoid being victims of the “breaking news syndrome”.