Elections in Nigeria continue to experience misinformation in different forms and the Ekiti governorship election is not expected to be an exception.
749,065 (those who have collected their Permanent Voters Card as of June 13) out of 988,923 registered voters will choose who gets to run the affairs of the state for another four years.
16 political parties have presented candidates to contest this election which would take place at 2,445 polling units with 17,317 police personnel, 87 observer groups, 91 accredited media organisations, and 483 journalists.
Although six contestants have been identified as frontline contenders, the battle seems to be getting tougher between the candidates of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
The election has already drawn the attention of misinformation vendors. Claims that the candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Segun Oni, stepped down for the All Progressives Congress (APC) and that the APC candidate was disqualified by the court have been recently fact-checked.
DUBAWA in partnership with journalists and observers on ground will be running quick checks to debunk claims on the election.
QUICK CHECKS
Claim 1: A Twitter user, Nigeria News (@NaijaNews) shared pictures of a statement with the claim that the candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Segun Oni, has withdrawn from the governorship race.
Verdict: FALSE! In a telephone conversation, Segun Oni’s media aide, Jackson Adebayo, dismissed the claim as false.
Claim2: A Twitter user, Nigeria News (@NaijaNews) claims INEC said it cannot stop vote-buying.
Verdict: MISLEADING! INEC’s National Commissioner, Festus Okoye’s comment on vote-buying when he appeared on Channels Television on Friday was taken out of context. He said “really the commission cannot as a commission guarantee there won’t be any vote buying in the election”.
Claim3: A Twitter user Ekiti Trends (@ekititrends) claims party agents at the polling unit of former governor, Ayodele Fayose, engaged in fisticuffs.
Verdict: TRUE! A Premium Times reporter confirmed to DUBAWA that party agents at Fayose’s Polling Unit 001, Ward 01, Irepodun Ifelodun LGA caused pandemonium over the voting queue.
