By Stella Oko-Esene
Issued in Abuja on Friday, 28th February 2025
Background
The Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room convened an advocacy meeting with the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), on Friday, 28th February 2025 in Abuja to discuss issues bordering on electoral integrity in Nigeria. The meeting brought together key stakeholders in the media and civil society to discuss potential partnership to promote credibility and accountability in Nigeria’s elections.
The meeting also aimed to foster a deeper understanding of election credibility, raise public awareness, and strengthen advocacy efforts for reform in Nigeria’s electoral processes.
Observations
Participants at the meeting noted the following key issues that impact on elections in Nigeria negatively:
1. Persistent attack on journalists and the failure of the security agencies to bring perpetrators to justice.
2. Political influence in media ownership.
3. Reoccurring electoral malpractices, including vote buying and result manipulation, which undermine public confidence in the democratic process.
4. Credibility of the nomination and screening processes into the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs).
5. Independence of INEC and SIECs.
6. The failure to unbundle INEC.
7. The proliferation of misinformation and fake news, particularly on digital platforms by political actors and influencers, which misleads voters, create confusion and discordance among the citizens.
8. Poor internal party democracy.
9. Inconsistencies and unreliability of the Nigeria’s voter register
10. The necessity for adherence to ethical reporting standards to ensure balanced and fact-based election coverage.
Consequently, the following resolutions were reached:
Media
1. The media should hold government and public officials to account as enshrined in section 22 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).
2. Journalists should sustain reporting and public communication on issues of election credibility.
3. Journalists should prioritize investigative and objective reporting to expose electoral malpractices and hold political actors to account.
4. The media practitioners should step-up advocacy for policy reforms that promote press freedom, media independence, and electoral accountability in Nigeria.
5. Media organizations should collaborate with civil society groups to enhance voter education and civic engagement in the country.
The President
6. Given that there are impending vacancies in INEC, the President should ensure that no politically exposed persons are nominated into INEC.
7. The President should also protect the independence of the Judiciary and INEC.
National Assembly
8. The National Assembly should work towards unbundling INEC including moving voter education responsibility to the National Orientation Agency (NOA), and expedite on the Election Offences Commission Bill.
9. Should amend the electoral act to mandate compulsory electronic transmission of election results to limit manipulation.
10. The Senate should be more diligent and sensitive in its vetting process of nominees into INEC and ensure the opinions of the civil society and the media are considered during thee screening.
INEC
11. INEC should publish on its website and disseminate information regarding both prosecuted and unprosecuted cases of electoral malpractices till date.
12. INEC should provide the public with details of its financial allocations, expenditure and procurement processes.
13. INEC should be diligent in its work at regulating political parties and ensure that parties’ reports of campaign finance are submitted and published timeously.
The Police/Security
14. The Nigerian Police Force (NPF) which is the lead agency in election security in Nigeria should provide a public update on their investigation and prosecution of perpetrators of attacks against journalists and observers during the 2023 General elections. According to the Press Attack Tracker of the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), 89 journalists were attacked in the 2023 General Elections in the country.
15. Work to eliminate militarisation of elections in Nigeria.
16. Security agencies must protect journalists covering elections and guarantee press freedom in line with democratic principles.
17. The meeting also called for a greater collaboration between the security agencies and the media to prevent attack, harassment and intimidation of journalists on civic duties.
Political parties
18. The political parties are urged to imbibe internal party democracy, including keeping a proper and standard register of members, adhering to extant laws on political and campaign financing, and upholding the rule of law in their operations and practices.
19. Political parties must fulfil their responsibility as required by law to deploy party agents to all levels of election in which they are involved.
20. Political parties and candidates must commit to issue-based campaigns and refrain from skipping public debates before elections.
Conclusion
The Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room and NUJ reaffirmed their commitment to working collectively to promote credible, transparent, and accountable elections and called on all stakeholders to uphold democratic principles and ensure the integrity of elections in Nigeria.
Signed:
YZ Ya’u
Convener, Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room
Alhassan Yahaya
National President, the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ)
