The Nigeria factcheckers’ coalition will be deployed to combat disinformation in Arise presidential town hall series
The Nigeria Factcheckers’ Coalition (NFC) will be participating in the Arise News presidential town hall meeting scheduled for Sunday, November 13, 2022.
As part of its civic responsibility to combat disinformation in Nigeria, the coalition will conduct a live fact-checking of claims and counterclaims by presidential candidates during the town hall meeting today.
Sunday’s event will feature the presidential candidates of Africa Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore; Action Democratic Party (ADP), Yabagi Sani; All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), Peter Umeadi; and Social Democratic Party (SDP), Adewole Adebayo.
Ajibola Amzat, managing editor of the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR), described the town hall meetings as an important opportunity for candidates to share their thoughts with Nigerians.
“But we should not take it for granted that the information the politicians will provide is gospel. That is why the role of the Nigeria Factcheckers’ Coalition is crucial in the town hall meeting series,” he said.
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On his part, Kemi Busari, the editor of Dubawa, expressed satisfaction with the contribution of the Nigerian Factcheckers’ Coalition so far.
“More and more, we are seeing politicians being careful with their statements. That goes to show how many Nigerian fact-checkers have done to enrich our democracy,” he said.
He added that the coalition is set to provide important facts and will continuously help in curbing the spread of falsehood, so as to avail citizens of accurate information needed to make political decisions.