INEC will have smooth electoral process ‘if politicians are determined’

Rotimi Oyekanmi, chief press secretary to the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), says politicians are responsible for most of the problems that occur during elections.

Speaking in Lagos when The International Press Centre (IPC) launched “Trends in reportage of post-2019 election issues”, a publication, Oyekanmi blamed electoral violence on politicians.

“Politicians are the ones that constitute most of the problems we have,” he said

“The violence that happened in Kogi and Bayelsa, if politicians did not fuel that violence, we wouldn’t have had it in the states. So having credible elections depend on the behaviour of the political class.

“If they are determined that we will have a smooth election, we will…honestly, because they are the ones that are responsible for those ballots snatching episodes and violence that we saw in Kogi and Bayelsa states.”

Lanre Arogundade, executive director of IPC, said the report is very important because of emerging critical post-election issues that the media must contend with.

He said nine print media and three online media were selected for monitoring, adding that the monitoring is to provide evidence-backed information on state of media performance in the coverage of the electoral processes.

“In dealing with these issues, it is our contention that the media must continue to be ethical and conflict-sensitive in their reportage,” Arogundade said.

“Thus, the report serves as a reminder to the media on their role in preventing insecurity and violence during and after elections through fact-based, independent, transparent, accountable and impartial reporting.

“We expect that the identified strengths and weaknesses in the coverage of the political process by the concerned media outlets will be vital for our deliberations and further recommendations, not just to the concerned media outlets but others that were not covered by the monitoring exercise.

“Ahead of this, let me once again remind all journalists and other media professionals that the provisions of the Nigerian media code of election coverage require us to be ethical, professional, socially responsible and conflict-sensitive; especially through the avoidance of hate speech in the coverage of electoral issues.

“Let us also be reminded that the code expects us to give prominence to the inclusive issues of women, especially female candidates, youths and persons living with disabilities.”

The IPC executive director urged INEC to issue press releases regularly in response to the concerns of parties, candidates, the media, civil society groups, among others.

Tunde Akanni, senior lecturer at the School of Communication, Lagos State University (LASU), who gave an overview of the election monitoring, urged journalists to be always professional.