The President, Nigerian Guild of Editors, Femi Adesina, on Thursday called on the Independent National Electoral Commission to be impartial in disseminating information to the media to ensure credible elections in 2015.
Adesina made the call at the Strategy Meeting on Media and the 2015 Elections Agenda organised by Democratic Governance for Development in Lagos.
“INEC must be seen to be truly independent and impartial in all ramifications to ensure that come 2015, we have a peaceful and transparent elections in Nigeria,” Adeshina said.
He stressed the need for INEC to enforce the provisions of the Electoral Act in an impartial way to enhance transparency in the conduct of political parties in the country.
Adesina said: “It is very important that the provisions of the Electoral Act are impartially enforced by INEC.”
According to him, as preparation towards 2015 elections gathers momentum, INEC must intensify effort to enhance public confidence in its ability to conduct credible elections.
Adesina advised journalists to always ensure fair, accurate, objective and balance reportage to avoid misleading the public.
He noted that objective and balance reporting was very central to achieving peaceful atmosphere before, during and after elections.
He decried the use of religion and tribal sentiment by some politicians as a means of canvassing for support from the electorate.
“It is very unfortunate that some politicians are using religion and tribalism as a political tool to canvass support from the electorate,” he added.
Earlier, Kayode Idowu, the Chief Press Secretary to the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega, restated the commission’s determination to give equal attention to all media establishment in the country.
Idowu said INEC would collaborate with all the media to ensure that Nigerians were kept abreast of the commission’s preparation for the 2015 general election.
He said INEC would collaborate with the Nigeria Union of Journalists to train reporters on the basics of political process.
He said this would enable reporter to have better understanding of most issues in the electoral process.
Participants at the conference included Prof. Umaru Pate of the Bayero University; Nick Dazang, the Deputy Director, Voter Education/Publicity of INEC; and Mourtada Deme, the Project Director DGD.
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