In
October, 2018, Infoprations reported
the outcomes of a political post on social media, asking for the views of
the people of Oyo State on whom among the governorship candidates in the state
is most likely to replace Senator Abiola Ajimobi, the incumbent governor in
2019. A few weeks later, Fidelinfo
(an online news aggregator) published a rejoinder, describing
the analysis as a misplaced one.
In line with the Infoprations’ core purpose
of helping businesses and individuals leverage research, data, insights,
knowledge and profiting by understanding their immediate and distant domains,
it is pertinent that Infoprations responds appropriately, revealing the truths
and saving the public, especially political conscious Nigerians from
consumption of biased information ahead of 2019 general elections. From the
rejoinder, analysis of 7 extracts shows that the writer and the medium were not
only being economical with the truths, but also found in polluting people’s
minds ahead of the 2019 governorship election in Oyo State.
Fidelinfo Goofed
1. “The social- political platform recently
did an analysis of all the leading gubernatorial candidates in Oyo…”
Fidelinfo is wrong. Infoprations
is not a social-political platform rather a platform where data-driven social, economic
and political information is being disseminated to Nigerians, other nationals
and policymakers throughout the world. A simple check of the Infoprations’ online presence should
have helped Fidelinfo to understand the platform’s focus.
2. “The fundamental question is; can 269
people be said to be a good representation of the wishes of the Oyo people?”
3. “Oyo state which is one of the most
populous state (sic) in Nigeria has an active social media users of more than
2.5 million. Most of which are of voting age. Therefore, to say that an opinion
poll that supposed to involve over two million people is done among 269
respondents is not only absurd but a calculated attempt to project a particular
candidate above others.”
Fidelinfo is wrong. Infoprations
did not claim that the size represents the view of the entire Oyo people. The
emphasis was on the people who reacted to the post. This is one of the reasons “Can
Makinde replace Ajimobi?” was used as the headline. The medium and the writer
also need to seek more knowledge on how social media research, especially
opinion mining and analysis is being done from the renowned researchers in
Nigeria and outside the country before responding to the analysis of this
nature in the future.
4. “According to opinion poll conducted
across the major streets of Ibadan among potential voters, it is believed that
Akala made giant strides in the areas of Health, Sports and social
infrastructure of Oyo during his reign as the first citizen. They argued that
this will speak for him in 2019.”
Can Fidelinfo and the writer inform the public the approach used in carrying
out the poll? People would like to know the main streets where the poll was
conducted. People would like to know the specific achievements of Chief Alao
Akala mentioned or preferred by the respondents.
5. “According to the recent voters (sic)
record released by INEC, Ibadan alone has 52% voting power while the remaining
48% voters would come from outside Ibadanland. A close look at the potential
candidates of the major political parties shows that Ibadan has 3 out of the
four leading candidates. Adelabu of APC, Makinde of PDP, and Lanlehin of ADC
are all from Ibadan. The only strong contender outside Ibadan is Akala of ADP.
While the three leading candidates from Ibadan will slug it out for the 52%
votes from that area, Akala of ADP maybe cruising to victory with the votes of
the people from outside Ibadanland. More so, he also enjoys a cult-like
followership in Ibadan too.”
From this extract, it is not
difficult for people who know how to discern truth from falsehood to know that
the medium and the writer are being induced by certain political parties and
candidates. Infoprations does not
dispute the fact that vote splitting would occur in Ibadan. It is not new to
Infoprations because one of her analyses during Osun 2018 governorship election
established the fact. Therefore, having this as part of the analysis when it
has not been established in Oyo State will distort the existing truth.
6. “As observed by this platform, a
research into the online and offline popularity of each of the candidate tipped
the All Progressive Congress candidate, Adebayo Adelabu and Otunba Alao Akala
as strong forces to reckon with in the coming polls. This is because of some
factors that will be discussed below.
“Adebayo Adelabu is the candidate of
APC. APC is the ruling party in Oyo state. In Nigeria, we have not grown beyond
using power of incumbency to determine outcome of elections. Adelabu is also
the grandson of the popular ‘penkelemesi’. It is believed that the name might
probably bring him goodwill as the first Adelabu was a great politician during
his time.
“On the other hand, Otunba Alao
Akala’s unprecedented achievements when he was governor of Oyo between 2007 and
2011 is (sic) gifting him the advantage over other candidates as many Oyo
people believe in public service experience by political candidates.
These extracts establish Fidelinfo and the writer’s strategy or
technique of twisting truth to favour their cronies. The Popularity index analysis conducted by Infoprations reveals that Adebayo
Adelabu was the most popular candidate from 27th September to 24th October,
2018. He attained 728 Popularity Index Status during the period. Chief
Christopher Adebayo Akala had the second highest PI status (536) while Engineer
Seyi Makinde trailed the duo with 350’s Popularity Index Status. Apart
from twisting the truth, Fidelinfo and
its writer says Infoprations
conducted online and offline popularity of each candidate. Fidelinfo is wrong. There is no section in the analysis where Infoprations stated this.
7. “With the avalanche of evidences above
and without fear of contradiction, one can easily conclude that Otunba Akala is
the candidate to beat in the election. It is pertinent to note however that
this is not to promote any candidate but to set the record straight on the
reality of events as obtainable today in Oyo state.”
This extract clearly reveals
that Fidelinfo and the writer cannot
claim that they are not doing Akala’s bidding or not induced by his political
machines. Why existing evidences do not portray Lanlehin, Adelabu among others
as the candidates to beat in the forthcoming election?
Fidelinfo as
a Threat to Unbiased Political Information
Fidelinfo and the writer’s positions have once again make Infoprations understand that politically
induced news aggregators are a threat to the Nigerian democracy, most
importantly election periods. For instance, during the campaigns period of the
just concluded governorship election in Osun State, the
Positive Campaign Initiative, Nigeria, a Non-Governmental Organisation,
found that Party-Politician induced Facebook users were deployed online to
engage in name calling, cyber bullying, narratives and counter narratives
especially between the APC, PDP and ADP supporters. A news medium
without the verifiable physical
address and core
purpose of existing will remain a threat to unbiased political information
as Nigerians go to the polls in the next few months.
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