By Pascal Ibe

Claim

An X user, High Chief Okoro, claimed that a member of the Democratic Congress (ADC) was arrested for vote-buying in the Kaduna bye-election.

Verdict

This claim is MISLEADING. News publications revealed that the image attached to the claim by the X user was a People’s Democratic Party ( PDP) agent, NOT ADC. While the police statement didn’t mention any political party he belongs to.

Full Text

The Nigerian Opposition Coalition’s decision to adopt the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as its official platform to challenge President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2027 general election is a welcome development, signalling a renewed effort to unify opposition forces against a ruling party that has dominated Nigerian politics since 2015.

This move, announced on July 2, 2025, at the Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja, aims to consolidate prominent opposition figures, including former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, former Kaduna state governor Nasir el-Rufai, former Rivers state governor Rotimi Amaechi, and the Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate Peter Obi, under a single platform. The choice of the ADC, a relatively neutral party with limited historical electoral success, offers a fresh start, free from the baggage of larger parties like the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP), both of which are grappling with internal crises.

As the countdown to the 2027 general elections seems to have commenced, politicians are beginning to vie for elections on the platform of ADC.

On August 16th (Saturday, the by-elections covered two senatorial districts in Anambra and Edo States, five federal constituencies in Edo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Ogun, and Oyo States, as well as nine state constituencies in Adamawa, Anambra, Kaduna (2), Kano, Kogi, Niger, Taraba, and Zamfara States.

The court-ordered re-run elections in Enugu South I State Constituency of Enugu State and Ghari/Tsanyawa State Constituency of Kano State were also conducted concurrently.

An X user, High Chief Okoro shared photos of a man arrested for voting buying and claimed he was a party agent of the ADC.

The post reads, “Breaking: ADC agent apprehended in Kaduna by the DSS with an alleged N30million for Vote buying. Coalition of Criminals?

The post garnered over 97k views with over 195 reposts on the X platform.

Commenting under this post, an X user, Twitchy said, “bye-election vote buying, imagine what general election will look like. ADC is the tabernacle of criminality and corruption 😀

Another X user wrote, “Is this how they want to rule Nigeria? I am not surprised because all Atiku knows is bribing his way into everything he is involved with.

Verification

However, FACTWATCH Nigeria checked one of the photos posted by X user on Google Image Reverse Search, and discovered that some Nigerian news outlets reported this was a suspected PDP party agent.

According to TheNation, the Department of State Services (DSS) and Police arrested a suspected People’s Democratic Party (PDP) agent, Shehu Fantagi, with about N30 million allegedly earmarked for vote-buying ahead of today’s by-elections in Kaduna State.

Fatangi was picked up on Friday evening at a hotel in the Kaduna metropolis, where he was said to be coordinating the distribution of the funds meant to influence voters in the Chikun/Kajuru Federal Constituency election.

Reliable security sources confirmed that the suspect was caught in possession of cash running into tens of millions, allegedly intended to compromise the integrity of the polls

DailyPost and a Facebook page, Inside Kaduna, also published this story.

However, a statement by the Kaduna State Police Command, which was published on Vanguard and Leadership news, didn’t mention the political party of the suspect.

Conclusion

Reports confirmed that the suspect was a PDP party agent while a police statement didn’t mention any political party he belongs to.