Nigeria fact-checkers' coalition sets up Situation Rooms to fight false news in Edo election
The Nigerian Fact-Checkers' Coalition (NFC) has opened its situation rooms for the Edo state governorship election, which is scheduled for Saturday, September 21, 2024.
Members of the coalition will work from two situation rooms in Abuja and Lagos, 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.
Launched in June 2022, the coalition includes three International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) signatories - Africa Check, FactCheckHub and Dubawa. Other partners are the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR), Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), Round Check, Digital Africa Research Lab, Daily Trust, TheCable, Premium Times, Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) and FactsMatterNG.
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.
Voters make informed decisions
The NFC Coordinator who is also the editor at the FactCheckHub, Opeyemi Kehinde, said the NFC 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.
"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," he said.
The Nigeria Editor of Africa Check, David Ajikobi, said the coalition deploying manpower and resources to monitor the Edo election underscores 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. 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.
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Fight requires coordinated efforts
"Considering that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has raised concerns about the spread of false information ahead of the Edo election, and the history of contentious elections in that state, we are approaching this carefully. We hope to significantly mitigate the impact of disinformation on the conduct and outcome of the election," he said.
Ajikobi added that the coalition will be fact-checking and verifying claims made by political actors, news reports, social posts, photos and videos related to the Edo election, and publish fact-checks online to counter false or misleading information.
Dubawa Nigeria Editor, Kemi Busari, said "Election periods are a sensitive time marred with mis/disinformation. 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."
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.
