Panelists at the conference

Practicing Journalists under the aegis of Guild of Corporate Online Publishers GOCOP has commended the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC over the recent introduction of Bimodal Voter Accreditation System BVAS and the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) portal which ensures polling unit results are uploaded to the portal real-time, describing these innovations as recipe for free, fair and credible elections.

The group has also canvassed the elimination of the scourge of fake news and irresponsible reporting, while upholding professionalism within the Guild and pursue the growth and development of online media in the country. It also made a strong case for the coverage of the electoral processes in a professional manner by sticking to the ethics of journalism in election reporting, namely fairness, objectivity and balance.

These are parts of a 24-point communique issued at the Guild’s 6th annual conference held recently in Lagos with the theme: “2023 Elections: Managing the Process for Credible Outcome”, which was attended in person by the chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, who also delivered the keynote address.

The communique signed by the chairman and secretary of the planning committee, Ken Ugbechie and Olumide Iyanda, respectively observed that the incremental and consistent deployment of appropriate technology by INEC to further the course of achieving credible elections from cleaning of voter register to actual voting, tallying and transmission of election results was commendable.

The conference admitted that deployment of technology will eliminate rigging schemes, vote allocation, changing of results, snatching of ballot boxes, irregular voting or voting by underaged persons, among others.

While also commending INEC for actively engaging with various stakeholders especially the politicians, security apparatchik, media and the electorates, the group however urged all political parties and their candidates to abide by the tenets of the Peace Accord agreement they signed as well as ensuring that the spirit of the agreement is respected by the political actors.

The conference observed that the political environment is already fouled up and cautioned political parties and politicians to eschew bitter and divisive politics by ensuring that their campaigns are devoid of foul and vulgar abuses.

It therefore cautioned that no party or individual or both should use the power of incumbency to the disadvantage of other political parties or candidates during the electioneering process and the election proper.

The communique reads in part: “Conference notes the critical roles of the media in election management, urging GOCOP to come out very strongly against fake news, mischief reporting and other acts capable of undermining the credibility of the forthcoming elections.

“GOCOP urges INEC to pay attention to peaceful campaign devoid of abusive, intemperate and slanderous language as well as the use of innuendoes or insinuations likely to provoke a counter-reaction resulting in the breach of the peace. It categorises role of the Police in elections into three – before, during and post-election period- and urges professionalism among the security personnel during elections.

“The conference notes that all political parties are involved in election manipulations especially in their areas of strength and urges internal vigilance among the electorate. Condemns inadequate security manpower for deployment during the elections since almost half of the security personnel in the country have been given out as orderlies to non-state actors.

“Urges media to embrace institutional synergy with the Civil Society Organisations and security personnel to avoid cases of conflict among these categories of stakeholders. Laments the present situation where electoral offenders walk away freely without arrest and even when arrested, are not prosecuted.

“Urges the Federal Government to establish Electoral Offences Tribunal for faster and unencumbered adjudication of electoral offences and offenders. Regrets that we are at the bottom of where we are supposed to be as a nation but notes that the 2023 election offers Nigerians the opportunity to choose leaders they can be proud of and correct every mistake made in the past.

“Applauds INEC for the courage to push for the passage of the Electoral Bill and President Muhammadu Buhari for accenting the Bill into an Act of parliament which will enhance credibility of the 2023 elections. Lauds INEC for the use of technology, and hopes INEC can continue to fine-tune technology to a point that we may have no need to use ballot papers in the future.

“Enjoins INEC to find a way of easing the process of collection of Permanent Voter Cards, PVCs. Notes that for the first time in the history of Nigeria, we’re going to have an INEC Chairman that will be conducting two consecutive elections which is a sign of stability within the system.

“GOCOP should collaborate with INEC, political parties, security agencies, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), labour unions, and other relevant stakeholders to ensure that the conduct of the 2023 general elections satisfies the letter and spirit of the Electoral Act. There is need for the formulation and implementation of policies and interventions to support online publishers to keep them commercially viable and competitive in terms of quality reportage.”