The Nigeria Police Force has said that persons in a viral video alleged to be compromising the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, are engineers providing services to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

The police, in a statement, midnight Wednesday, by its spokesman, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said operatives of the Nigeria Police Force Intelligence Bureau, FIB, acting on a tip off from residents, visited the Maitama area of the FCT where they interviewed the occupants and conducted a search on the house.

“The Nigeria Police 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” the statement said.

The Spokesman said some electoral materials and BVAS machines were discovered in possession of the individuals in the course of the search.

However, he disclosed that when contacted, INEC, confirmed that the occupants of the house are staff of Emperor Technology, an outsourcing engineering firm to the Commission.

Subsequently, the affected persons were immediately released to go about their lawful business.

The police urged 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.

It further charged reporters and media houses to endeavor 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”.

Furthermore, the Nigeria Police urged all and sundry to avoid the creation and spread of misinformation and disinformation which is capable of causing disaffection between the populace and state actors more so as we are at a critical and sensitive moment in our democracy.