The Nigerian Fact-Checkers’ Coalition (NFC) has opened a situation room to tackle misinformation, disinformation, and fake news about the Edo governorship election.
Edo governorship election, one of the off-season elections in Nigeria, was slated for Saturday, September 21 this year.
NFC, in a statement signed by its Coordinator, Mr Opeyemi Kehinde, indicates that members of the coalition will work in two situation rooms domiciled in Abuja and Lagos to monitor, verify, and counter fake claims that could endanger peace, undermine voters’ confidence in the electoral process, and affect outcome of the election.
“Just as we did during the general elections, our team is ready to fact-check false information that could potentially influence the election,” he said.
Mr Kehinde explained that fact-checking organisations in the coalition are collapsing all their staff for the Edo election operation to ensure that Nigerians and most especially Edo residents make informed decisions from accurate information only during the election.
He said that beyond the Edo election, the coalition also plans to up its fact-checking activities for the next off-cycle governorship election coming up in Ondo State in November 2024.
Similarly, the Editor of Dubawa Nigeria Mr Kemi Busari, said “Election periods are a sensitive time marred with mis/disinformation.’
He added, “This level of disinformation requires coordinated efforts to combat hence the need for collaborations such as this under the umbrella of the coalition. This collaboration has so far proven to be effective in combatting election-related mis/disinformation.”
The NFC debunked dozens of false information about Nigeria’s 2023 general elections, leveraging effective collaboration among researchers, fact-checkers, editors, data analysts, and social media specialists.
The coalition’s model has been adopted in other countries including Kenya, Senegal and South Africa.
