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AHEAD of tomorrow’s governorship election in the state, the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD-West Africa), an independent, not-for-profit, research, training, advocacy and capacity-building organisation said it has deployed 70 accredited, trained and non-partisan observers to closely follow and report on key Election Day processes.
In a statement signed by its Director, Dr Dauda Garuba, the Centre noted that intra and inter-party rivalries, heightened political tension, charged rhetoric and the claims and counter-claims of the various partisan camps are major features that has defined the pre-election environment.
The deployment includes, the Soldiers of Mouth, a group of trained disinformation monitors, who will help CDD Election Analysis Centre (EAC) observe and document on and offline misinformation trending before, during and after election day.
According to Dauda, the CDD-EAC will be led by renowned political scientist and electoral reform advocate, Professor Adele Jinadu. He will be supported by other election subject matter experts, while the Centre’s staff will serve as data clerks to relay information from observers in the field to the analysts and technical drafting group.
“In this pre-election statement, what follows is a summary of key findings in the pre-election period and major trends, which will shape the conduct and outcome of this off-cycle governorship election. The EAC will publish its final report on the conduct and outcome of the elections on the CDD website after voting at the weekend.
“This statement is set in the broader context of the economic, political and socio-cultural environment, which not only frames but continues to pose challenges for the country’s competitive party and electoral politics.
“Being the fourth off cycle governorship election, since the keenly contested and heavily disputed 2023 general elections, CDD through its EAC will be watching out for significant improvements in the conduct of the poll as a mark of confidence as momentum steadily gathers towards the historic general elections slated for 2027.
“Major features of the pre-election environment in Edo State include the role of intra- and inter-party rivalries. This has manifested in the heightened political tension, charged rhetoric and the claims and counterclaims of the various partisan camps. A number of these exchanges border on disinformation peddled with the intent of winning the partisan advantage.
“Other issues, which came to the fore in our pre-election assessment are the legacy of the incumbent government, concerns around federal might being deployed, insecurity, zoning and ethnicity, and a continued fixation of individuals over party in the state,” the statement read partly.
According to CDD, Edo remains a key state in Nigeria’s electoral calendar, serving as a bellwether state due to its ability to buck trends and serve as a litmus test for the different sides of Nigeria’s political landscape. The upcoming elections, arguably the most competitive polls since the 2023 general elections, will further add to this record.
Findings by the Centre shows that Ighodalo’s nomination appears to have been at the heart of the rift between Governor Godwin Obaseki and his deputy, Philip Shaibu, who was twice elected as deputy governor and sought to succeed his boss, but has since been impeached.
Although a Federal High Court in Abuja later declared the impeachment null, the state government has refused to acknowledge him in this post, and he has defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The APC will be represented by Monday Okpebholo, a first term senator who will be seeking to help the party regain a state house they lost in 2020 election. Olumide Akpata, the former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), is the nominee of the Labour Party (LP), which will seek to leverage the impressive showing of their presidential nominee in the 2023 general elections.
All three candidates are relatively new to elective politics – Akpata and Ighodalo have not contested for office before and Okpebholo was only elected to the senate last year. This, alongside the expected impact of their various political patrons and rumoured ‘godfathers’, will expectedly play a role in the election and the subsequent outcome.
On the issue of disinformation and information manipulation, CDD stated that the pre-election period in Edo State has been marked by noticeable trends, including tactical means to undermine rival opponents, verbal attacks aimed at undermining the participation of women, and the targeting of less dominant political parties with narratives, which weaken their ability to have their voices heard in the electoral process.
As evident in the close analysis of the fact-checks produced by the CDD War Room, these trends have combined to undermine the integrity of the information space. Diverse insights and perspectives have been gleaned from the information environment assessment carried out in the state ahead of tomorrow’s election.
These trends encompass a range of strategies, being deployed by the peddlers of disinformation to have their vice-like grip over the information ecosystem. Their strategies are aimed at influencing public perception, undermining political stakeholders on the opposing sides of the partisan divide, and in other cases, sowing distrust in the electoral process.
CDD noted that several claims checked by its Countering Information Manipulation War Room targeted political stakeholders and government institutions. For instance, one of the dominant narratives in the pre-election period was the allegation, which emerged that Governor Obaseki had taken the Oba of Benin to court.
“The peddlers of this piece of disinformation leveraged it as an attempt to stir cultural tensions, knowing that the personality of the Oba of Benin, is highly revered, both as a traditional and spiritual leader of the Benin Kingdom, Edo South Senatorial Zone which accounts for 46% of the votes cast in the state in the February 2023 presidential election.
“By peddling the claim that the sitting governor was disrespecting a hallowed traditional institution, the narrative found a typical entry point for political expediency and brinkmanship,” the statement also read.
