The Nigerian Fact-checkers Coalition (NFC) has opened its situation rooms for Saturday’s governorship election in Edo state.
The situation rooms are in Lagos state and Abuja, the country’s capital.
NFC comprises leading Nigerian newsrooms and think-tank groups such as TheCable, Africa Check, Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), Daily Trust, Digital Africa Research Lab, Dubawa, FactCheckhub, FactsMatterNG, International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR), Premium Times, Round Check.
During the Edo election, members of the coalition will be “monitoring, fact-checking, and debunking misinformation and disinformation that could incite violence, engender voter apathy, undermine trust in the electoral process, and affect the outcome of the election”.
Speaking on the activities of the coalition, Opeyemi Kehinde, NFC coordinator, who is also the editor at FactCheckHub, said the coalition is committed to stemming the tide of misinformation and disinformation which have become a weapon in elections.
“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.
“The 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.”
David Ajikobi, the Nigeria Editor of Africa Check, said the coalition understands the importance of keeping the information space void of false and misleading narratives during elections.
“Elections provide the opportunity for the electorate to make important decisions that have real-life consequences,” Ajikobi said.
“Voters should have accurate information about the candidates, parties, and the electoral process to help them make informed choices. These are the reasons we are doing this.”
On his part, Kemi Buhari, editor of Dubawa Nigeria, said the coalition understands that election periods are usually marred with information, which requires coordinated efforts for combatting dis/misinformation.
During the 2023 election, the coalition debunked dozens of false information.
