The Nigerian Fact-checkers’ Coalition (NFC) has opened its Election Situation Rooms to monitor and tackle misinformation and disinformation in Saturday’s Ondo State Governorship Election.
A statement signed by the NFC Coordinator, Opeyemi Kehinde, on Wednesday in Abuja noted that the coalition’s situation rooms in Abuja and Lagos will respond rapidly to monitor and debunk false information spreading about the election, especially on online platforms.
Recall that the coalition launched in June 2022 includes three International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) signatories – FactCheckHub, Africa Check and Dubawa. Other partners are the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR), Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), Digital Africa Research Lab, Daily Trust, TheCable, Premium Times, Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), FactsMatterNG and Round Check.
READ: 2023 Elections – Nigerian fact-checkers unveil situation rooms in Lagos, Abuja
Also recall that the NFC debunked dozens of false information about Nigeria’s 2023 general elections, including Bayelsa, Imo, Kogi and Edo off-cycle governorship elections leveraging effective collaboration among researchers, fact-checkers, editors, data analysts, and social media specialists to curb the fake news menace and support election integrity in the country.
The coalition’s model has been adopted in other countries including Kenya, Senegal, Liberia and South Africa and ahead of the December elections in Ghana.
Speaking on the coalition’s efforts, the NFC coordinator said: “We fully support any democratic process that respects the will of the people in the society. That is why we are working assiduously alongside our partners and relevant stakeholders to support information integrity in the Ondo 2024 gubernatorial election and to curb the menace of ‘fake news’ during the poll.”
Kehinde, who is also the Editor of the FactCheckHub, added: “We’ve deployed our combined team of researchers, social media analysts and fact-checkers to monitor information trends on TVs, radio and online platforms, including social media platforms to quickly identify and debunk claims spreading online and offline.
“Our team will also be publishing a comprehensive analysis of our coverage of Edo and Ondo 2024 governorship elections immediately after the poll. The analysis detailed misinformation patterns observed during the elections. Utilising fact-checking data, the report identifies prevalent misinformation themes, examines their distribution across major social media platforms, highlights the persistence of false and misleading claims post-verification and reveals potential gaps in content moderation, especially during critical events such as election etc.
“Based on these insights, this report offers targeted recommendations to enhance real-time monitoring, improve platform collaboration, and foster public resilience against misinformation.”
Also commenting, DUBAWA Nigeria Editor, Kemi Busari, said: “We continue to see the influence of false information on elections and we are not resting on our oars. We’ll go all out to combat misinformation and disinformation that threatens our democracy.”
He encouraged members of the public to send any suspicious post, images or video that they want verified regarding the Ondo Election to the coalition’s WhatsApp number: +2349030785265.
Similarly, the Nigeria Editor of Africa Check, David Ajikobi, said “this is our contribution to making sure the electorate and people in the state are equipped with accurate information to help them make informed decisions.”
 has opened its Election Situation Rooms to monitor and tackle misinformation and disinformation in Saturday's Ondo State Governorship Election.){kind=link}