Ahead of the 2023 general elections which is 141 days away, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has charged members of the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers, GOCOP, to lead an alliance of stakeholders to curb fake news engineered by unpatriotic individuals.
Prof Yakubu made the call on Thursday, while delivering his keynote address at the 6th annual conference of GOCOP held at Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos.
He said fake news remains a threat to national security hence, all hands must be on deck to curb it as political campaigns hold across the country on the way to 2023 general elections.
According to Prof Yakubu, “GOCOP must lead a network or alliance of stakeholders to curb fake news engineered by unpatriotic individuals.
“Fake news is a threat to national security and all hands must be on deck to check it. Managing this process requires in part, concerted efforts. We have noticed that your members have so far steered clear of fake news. We urge you to do more.
“GOCOP should come out strongly in the battle against fake news which is clearly a challenge to the electoral process going forward. We are happy to note that you have your peer review mechanism using your leaders to regularly remind every member of the need for credible journalism.
“This is highly commendable. We urge you extend this beyond GOCOP to serve as a bulwark against the menace of fake news.
The INEC boss reassured that the commission was committed to conduction credible elections, calling on political parties and their candidates to abide by the “letter and spirit” of the peace accord they signed recently as well as INEC regulations and above all, the constitution.
“The Commission will pay particular attention to the conduct of parties, candidates and their supporters. As a regulator, the Commission will play its role to ensure compliance with the provision of the law as well as our guidelines and regulations.
“We will pay particular 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.
“Similarly, we will pay special attention to the observance of limits on party and candidate finance. I urge political parties and candidates to carefully study the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 and familiarise themselves with their obligations as well as the penalties under the law,” he said.
Prof Yakubu posited that the use of technology especially BVAS has come to stay, noting further that “Polling Unit results are now uploaded in real-time to the IReV portal for public view.
“This has enhanced the transparency, credibility and consequently public confidence in the outcome of elections. The IReV has come to stay and polling unit results will be uploaded to the portal in real-time in the 2023 General Election.”
The theme of the GOCOP conference for this year is – 2023 Elections: Managing The Process For Credible Outcome.
The conference was chaired by Dr. Umar Ardo while former Inspector-General of Police, Dr. Solomon Arase and Dr. Chichi Aniagolu-Okoye of Ford Foundation, West Africa served as panelists.
Earlier in her welcome address, GOCOP President Maureen Chigbo, had called for an end to quackery in online journalism through adequate support to credible online publishers like GOCOP members.
She said the panelists were carefully chosen to give the audience the other side of the story as far as preparations for the 2023 elections are concerned.
