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Critical stakeholders in Nigeria’s civic space have charged voters in Edo State and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to uphold the poll’s integrity as residents choose the state Number 1 citizen in Saturday’s governorship election.
This call was made during an X space organised by the Nigerian Fact-checkers Coalition (NFC) on Thursday, Sept 19, 2024.
This space brought together various media houses and other key stakeholders, including the executive director of Yiaga Africa, Samson Itodo; the chief executive of Connected Development (CODE), Hamzat Lawal; David Ajikobi, Nigeria Editor of Africa Check and INEC’s Principal Information Officer at the Voter Education and Publicity Department, Nathaniel Audu Gana.
They harp on the need to curb information disorder that can negatively impact the Edo State gubernatorial election.
The NFC is a coalition of fact-checking organizations in Nigeria, with partners from various media organizations, coming together to combat the spread of fake news in the country.
Recall that the NFC reopened its offices in Abuja and Lagos to monitor the spread of mis/disinformation during the 2024 Edo election.
The Edo State off-cycle governorship election holds today with over 2.2 million voters expected to participate, according to INEC.
Gana, during the X Space, noted that the electoral umpire is prepared to conduct the Edo State election, having fulfilled 12 of its 13 schedules made toward the election.
Gana pointed out that there is distrust in the electoral system, and fake news purveyors exploit this by using sentiments to share misinformation and further delegitimize the electoral process.
According to him, “Election is a multi-stakeholder activity. As much as INEC has put in a lot to make sure that everything is on track, we hope that stakeholders will play their role so that we will have a peaceful and credible election on Saturday.”
Itodo noted that the clash of political heavyweights, zoning and power sharing, and INEC’s competence, among other factors, are critical issues that will shape the forthcoming election.
He expressed concern that, given the current economic hardship and security volatility, the Edo State election is likely to record low voter turnout.
Also reacting, Lawal emphasized that too much reliance shouldn’t be placed on INEC, adding that “interference by political parties and the failure of security officials to do their job can limit INEC’s function.”
On how stakeholders can help combat election-related misinformation, he said, “I think there’s one gap. In most cases where we have mis/disinformation, they target demography, age group, and region. Media houses need to work with tech companies or innovators to come up with tools that we can use to counter these narratives.”
Also speaking, Ajikobi revealed the level of preparation made by the NFC towards the Edo State election, saying the coalition has started observing a series of misinformation, and fact-checkers have been actively debunking such content.
He believes that false information has spread widely due to the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and the coalition is ready to combat it.
“As I speak to you, we are already seeing some false claims being spread around the elections. But what is very strategic for us is also that as elections come and go, we understand that AI is a big deal now. Everyone is talking about how AI is affecting things, and from Friday to Saturday, we will see a lot of AI-generated content, and we are also ready to combat it,” Ajikobi said.
