By Pascal Ibe

As more voters head to the Edo governorship poll on Saturday, those responsible for managing this election also face challenges like never before, many of them driven by technology and disinformation.

Election officials have always had a difficult job, as they organize logistically complex elections in highly charged political environments. Historically, the best of them have dealt with this challenge by strictly adhering to electoral law and treating all candidates fairly and equally while staying out of the spotlight. But this approach, though still necessary, is no longer sufficient.

Elections are now organized amid a sea of misinformation and disinformation, making it harder for voters to know what’s true.

Edo governorship poll became an Off-cycle as a result of judicial decisions that led to the removal of sitting governors. The beneficiaries were then opposition parties, and the then Action Congress of Nigeria can trace its strength in the South-West and eventual contribution to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to a string of successes at the court, including Edo in 2007

On Tuesday night, an X user, @Harmless47, shared a video where an unarmed elderly man declared the current Edo governor, Godwin Obaseki, “Enemy of Benin Kingdom“.

The X user shared the video and wrote, “BREAKING NEWS FROM THE PALACE:
@GovernorObaseki has just been declared an enemy of the palace and of the great Benin kingdom.

The elderly man, who spoke in Edo’s native language said Obaseki was an enemy of the Benin kingdom for disrespecting the Oba of Benin.

Translating Edo’s native language to English for FACTWATCH by an Edo indigene( Emmanuel Osagie), the elderly man said, “Edo State had governors before Obaseki, Oba is the pride of Benin people, and we will not allow Obaseki to deprive us of our pride.

“Edo South has not benefited from good governance from Obaseki’s government despite producing the governor.

The post generated over 30k views and more than 120 reposts.

Many persons who commented on the post accused the Palace of Oba of Benin of bias and playing politics when the Edo State gubernatorial is around the corner.

Verification

First, the watermark on the video, #BENIN NATION PROTEST, showed that the video may be from a group or organization that protested recently.

There’s no evidence, or an official press statement from the Palace of Oba of Benin, which confirmed that the Governor was declared an “Enemy Of Benin Kingdom“ by the Palace.

This Fact Checker did a keyword search using the watermark on the video and discovered that the group that protested in that video is a civil society organization, Concerned People of Benin Nation (CPBN), not the Palace of Oba of Benin.

According to news report by Vanguard, the group who protested on September 10 in Benin asked Governor Obaseki to issue a public apology to the Oba of Benin, Oba Ewuare II, for what they describe as “sacrilegious disrespect” towards the Benin throne.

According to the report, the group outlined several grievances, including the need for the governor to withdraw lawsuits filed by certain engines (chiefs) against the Benin monarch.

The group also sought the reallocation of lands and property which Certificates of Occupancy (Cs of O) were revoked by the governor, including those of prominent individuals such as Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu and Captain Hosa Okunbor.

In another news publication by the DailyTrust in August, the group, in a statement signed by Prof Amen Uhunmwangho and eight others, gave the governor a seven-day ultimatum to render the apology, demanding that the apology be published in at least three national newspapers.

Verdict

The claim attached to the video that the Palace of Oba Benin declared Governor Obaseki “an enemy of Benin Kingdom“, is MISLEADING.

Findings by FACTWATCH indicate that the video originated from a protest by a civil society group in Benin last week.