Nigerian journalists, including a reporter with SaharaReporters, Elizabeth Ogunbamowo, have been shortlisted for the 2021 African Fact-Checking Awards.
Ogunbamowo was selected for conducting a fact-check into a photograph that showed a tweet that purportedly originated from the verified handle of Twitter, explaining reasons for the deletion of President Muhammadu Buhari’s tweet and claiming Twitter did not recognise Buhari.
The photograph had been shared several times and continued to circulate at a time when the public sought information regarding the micro-blogging platform as it was just banned.
The fact-check, which was necessitated due to the misinformation that trailed the ban, showed that the photograph was actually manipulated.
Other journalists shortlisted in the Working Journalist category included Dubawa Fellowship, writers, Maxine Danso and Silas Jonathan, alongside Ghana’s Programme Officer, Caroline Anipah, for a collaborative fact-check they entered for the fact-checking award.
Kunle Adebajo, who works with HumAngle, was shortlisted for his fact-check on an alleged military raid of a Boko Haram enclave.
Also, Oluwasegun Olakoyenikan from AFP Fact Check was shortlisted for his article on a false EU statement about the rescue of kidnapped kids in Nigeria.
The African Fact-checking Award, which is in its eighth year, is famous for annually appreciating and promoting fact-checking journalism in Africa.
According to the organisers, the 2021 call received 216 entries from 28 countries, an increase from last year which recorded 192 entries from 27 African countries.
The awards programme received entries for both Fact-Check of the Year by a Working Journalist and Fact-Check of the Year by a Student Journalist categories.
The winners and runners-up from each category will be announced at the awards ceremony, which will be held on Tuesday 12 October, during the African Investigative Journalism Conference.
