By Lekan Sote
If this appears to be a flattering appraisal of the role of the media in Nigeria’s unfolding democratic Fourth Republic, it may well be; you can’t separate the media from the workings of a modern democratic society.
And, with as many as 50 journalists reported to have been picked up by security agencies in 2024 alone, everyone should be concerned that the media which is so important to democracy is becoming a victim of the Nigerian state.
Section 15 of Part 1 of the Third Schedule of the 1999 Constitution provides that, “The (Independent National Electoral) Commission shall have power (among other things) to: organise, undertake and supervise all elections to the offices of president and vice president, the governor and deputy governor,” and all federal and state legislators.
Other responsibilities of INEC include registration and monitoring of the organisation, operation and finance of political parties; arranging the registration, maintenance and updating of the register of persons qualified to vote; and monitoring political campaigns and providing electoral rules and regulations.
Sections two, nine and 75 of the Electoral Act amplify these responsibilities. But what is germane to this discourse is the part of section two which requires INEC to “conduct voter education (and) promote knowledge of sound democratic election processes.”
By the way, those who argue that there are no provisions for referendum in Nigerian laws should read the following portion of section two, which empowers INEC to “… conduct any referendum required under the provisions of the constitution or an Act of the National Assembly.”
What you’ve read so far are the guardrails of the practice of democracy according to the 1999 Constitution and the Electoral Act that is derived therefrom through an Act of the National Assembly.
Actions outside of these statutes will not be statutorily applicable to elections in Nigeria. Effective voter education is crucial for effective voter participation and fulfilment of citizens’ roles in engaging state actors who seem to be shirking their responsibilities to the citizens of Nigeria.
Associate Justice Louis Brandeis of America’s Supreme Court asserts that, “Democracy means that the people shall govern, and they can govern, only by taking the trouble to inform themselves of the facts necessary for a correct decision, and then by recording that decision through a public vote.” For effect, Brandeis added: “The most important political office is that of the private citizen.”
A non-governmental organisation, the Centre for Media and Society, recently organised a seminar with a view to sensitising broadcast journalists, drawn from government-owned and privately-owned television and radio stations across the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria.
The idea of the seminar is to help improve the quality of electoral activities, improve the electorate’s participation, empower the media to responsibly report and promote democracy and citizen participation in the electoral process, without leaving out women and people with disabilities.
This seminar is timely as Edo and Ondo states are preparing for their off-season governorship elections due in September and November 2024 respectively. Of course, the deliverables will be applicable to the big kahuna, the 2027 general elections.
Some of the questions being asked at the seminar are whether the media is professionally and ethically equipped and willing to provide accurate, fair, balanced and inclusive reports of political and electoral events.
Balanced and inclusive new reports, responsible gate-keeping processes by the media houses and a degree of self-censorship are some of the signposts to responsible covering and reporting of news content.
While one facilitator, Prof. Sam Egwu, shared his perspective as a political science scholar and current INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in Benue State, the other, Nick Danzang, provided that of a veteran journalist.
Egwu thinks the media sets the agenda by being the most dominant source of information for the citizens. He states that politicians and state actors are aware of what he called “media logic,” or way of doing things, which they may ignore to their peril.
Dazang thinks the media must avoid falling into the trap of misinformation, fake news that he prefers to call disinformation. He suggests that media houses may need to set up fact-check desks, to detect disinformation.
During the recent presidential debate between incumbent American President Joe Biden and his predecessor and challenger, Donald Trump, hosted by CNN International television network, the fact-check facility is said to have detected nine false claims by Biden and more than 30 by Trump.
The media is crucial to democracy and the accompanying electoral process. As Egwu suggests, the media is an enabler of democracy; it assists citizens and voters to understand and make choices between the agenda of political parties and their candidates.
Section 22 of the 1999 Constitution provides that, “The press, radio, television and other agencies of the mass media shall… uphold the fundamental objectives contained in Chapter II and uphold the responsibility and accountability of the government to the people.”
Egwu admits that INEC may not have been very successful in fulfilling its obligation of voter education, which is reflected in low voter education and low voter awareness of what is expected of them during elections.
Voters’ ignorance of what to do at the polling booth often leads to unwanted voiding of votes cast by the electorate. This unintended disenfranchisement has resulted in some voters vowing to stay away from subsequent voting exercises.
Egwu is of the opinion that Nigerian politicians know how to mobilise votes, but do not know how to mobilise the voters. This is a damning indictment of the Nigerian political class that some accuse of weaponising poverty and ignorance.
Egwu’s suggestion that the occurrence of election violence is waning may not resonate with those who experienced considerable violence to their bodies and property before and during the 2023 general elections.
While Egwu admits that the collation of election results is one of the biggest challenges of the electoral process in Nigeria, he also avers that introduction of the technology of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System to authenticate Permanent Voter Cards has helped a lot.
BVAS has the capacity to read the fingerprints and facial features of voters. But the INEC Result Reviewing port that was linked to BVAS devices deployed to polling units during the 2023 general elections didn’t seem to have worked on the day of the presidential election.
And INEC claimed that apart from attempts to hack the IRev portal by criminals, even before election day, the BVAS device and IRev portal experienced inexplicable glitches on election day. One can only wonder why INEC wasn’t proactive in averting the presidential election day glitches.
Dazang revealed some electoral malpractices that the media must be aware of, and report to their audiences. He alleged that in some riverine communities, politicians subvert elections by paying boat operators to sit idle all day and refuse to convey voters to polling units.
Also, he added that security agencies sometimes refuse to escort INEC officials as they move sensitive election materials to polling units, claiming that they have not received their statutory allowances.
The media must help INEC deliver credible elections in a democracy where voting processes and technology will fail, security agents will refuse to perform their statutory duties, voters will be prevented from voting and vote collation will be compromised.
