by Nuruddeen M. Abdallah
Presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC) Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday launched a fact-checking website to counter all attacks on his personality by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
A statement by his media aide said the site is dedicated to sharing “facts and disapproving many lies being told by the Goodluck Jonathan campaign against Muhammadu Buhari.”
“This is announcing FactChecki.ng, a fact-checking site dedicated to sharing the facts and the figures, and disproving many lies being told by the Goodluck Jonathan campaign against Muhammadu Buhari, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress,” the statement said.
“Happy New Year! 2015 is the year we reset Nigeria’s clock by electing competence,” ‘Gbenga Sesan, a social entrepreneur team and a member working on the site, said.
“Let’s kill lies against #GMB16 via factchecki.ng,” he said.
“Our volunteer effort seeks to kill lies that are introduced to discourage you from supporting the candidacy of Muhammadu Buhari/Yemi Osinbajo. Please share the facts from the FactCheki.ng website with everyone – via SMS, through your favourite radio/TV shows, on social media and much more,” Sesan said.
He urged Nigerians to cross check any statement by the PDP by mailing it to the site.
“If you come across any lies about Buhari or any claims which accuracy you are not sure of, please send such to [email protected],” the statement said.
Daily Trust reporter visited the site around 2:44pm on Thursday; some of the controversial claims against Buhari being addressed include questions such as “Did Muhammadu Buhari call for post-election violence or ask his supporters to kill? Did Buhari say Muslims should only vote for Muslim leaders? Did Buhari promise to make Nigeria ungovernable?”
The site handlers provided detailed answers to these controversial issues by providing video clips, online links to newspapers stories, among others to convince their audience.
