The Guild of Corporate Online Publishers has announced it will be collaborating with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), political parties, civil society organizations (CSOs), security agencies, and other relevant stakeholders to ensure the 2023 general elections conform with the Electoral act.
A communiqué issued at the end of the guild’s annual conference in Lagos which was signed by the Secretary, Ken Ugbechie, revealed that GOCOP would ensure coverage of the electoral process professionally by sticking to journalism ethics in fairness, objectivity and balance.
It added that the group would endeavor to eradicate the scourge of fake news and uphold professionalism.
“GOCOP should strive to eliminate the scourge of fake news, uphold professionalism within the Guild and pursue the growth and development of online media in the country.
“Cover the electoral process professionally by sticking to the ethics of journalism in election reporting, namely fairness, objectivity and balance,” it said
According to the statement, all political parties and their candidates are expected to uphold by the rules of the Peace Accord agreement which they have signed and ensure that the spirit of agreement is adhered to by political actors.
It also “Urged all political parties and their candidates to abide by the tenets of the Peace Accord agreement which they signed as well as ensure that the spirit of the agreement are respected by the
political actors.”
The group also 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.
Stressing the crucial role of media in the management of the electoral process, it urged GOCOP with the responsibility of tackling any form of fake news, mischief reporting and other operations capable of disrupting elections.
It noted what it called “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 “urged 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.” The statement read.
The statement also commended the consistent deployment appropriate technology to further ease the election process and the initiation of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the INEC Result View Portal which insures that results from polling units are uploaded to the portal. It also urged INEC to pay attention to campaigns likely to provoke reactions from other parties which may result in breach of peace.
It noted the incremental and consistent deployment of appropriate technology by INEC to further the cause of achieving credible elections from cleaning of voter register to actual voting, tallying and transmission of election results.
GOCOP commended the introduction and use of Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) portal which ensures polling unit results are uploaded to the portal in real-time.”
It further urged political actors to show civility and accept that elections produces winners and losers and stresses on the need to accept defeats and victories on completion of the exercise.
It also urged politicians to behave well and show civility by accepting that elections are bound to produce winners and losers and that there’s the need to accept defeat and victory at the end of the exercise.