NGE Demands 50% Presidential Threshold, Pre-Inauguration Resolution of Election Disputes

Sunday EhigiatorThe Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) has called for a constitutional and electoral reforms, including a requirement that presidential candidates should secure at least 50 per cent of votes cast to be declared winners, as well as the resolution of electoral disputes before the swearing-in of declared winners. The Guild also called for a review of the appointment process for the Chairman, National Commissioners and Resident Electoral Commissioners of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as well as State Electoral Commissioners, to strengthen the independence and credibility of electoral institutions. The resolutions were contained in the communiqué issued at the end of the 22nd All Nigeria Editors Conference (ANEC 2026), recently held in Enugu, as signed by the NGE President, Eze Anaba, and General Secretary, Onuoha Ukeh. The conference, with the theme, “The Ballot, the Media and the Task of Keeping Democracy Alive,” was chaired by the Obi of Onitsha, His Royal Majesty, Igwe Nnaemeka Alfred Achebe, while the Archbishop Emeritus of Abuja, His Eminence John Cardinal Onaiyekan, delivered the keynote address. Vice President Kashim Shettima participated virtually as Special Guest of Honour, while Enugu State Governor, Peter Mbah, was the Chief Host. More than 500 editors, publishers and senior media practitioners from print, broadcast and digital platforms, alongside political, traditional, religious, academic, regulatory and development-sector leaders, participated in the conference. The Guild said the conference examined challenges confronting Nigeria’s electoral democracy ahead of the 2027 general elections, particularly voter apathy, electoral insecurity, declining public confidence, misinformation, disinformation and the growing threat posed by artificial intelligence. According to the editors, although the ballot remained the principal instrument through which citizens exercise their sovereign will, its value depended on credible information, confidence in the electoral process and the assurance that votes would be properly counted and respected. The Guild attributed voter apathy to several factors, including poor governance, electoral violence and intimidation, administrative shortcomings, declining public confidence and concerns over the relationship between electoral outcomes and subsequent judicial decisions. It said judicial interventions in some electoral disputes had created perceptions in sections of the public that court decisions could displace outcomes recorded at the ballot box. The NGE, however, stressed the need to respect judicial independence, while advocating an electoral adjudication system that is “timely, transparent, predictable and impartial.” It called for electoral disputes to be resolved within appropriate timelines and, preferably, before the swearing-in of declared winners. The editors also recommended the consideration of a constitutional threshold requiring a presidential candidate to secure up to 50 per cent of votes cast, with a run-off where no candidate attains the threshold. The Guild further called for a review of limitations preventing ordinary voters from challenging electoral results and advocated a constitutional framework that would allow independent candidacy. On the independence of the electoral management body, the NGE called for reforms to the process of appointing the INEC Chairman, National Commissioners and Resident Electoral Commissioners, as well as State Electoral Commissioners. It also urged INEC to sustain nationwide election-readiness assessments, strengthen technical partnerships for cybersecurity and electoral technology, ensure the technical integrity of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and safeguard the institutional independence of the commission. The editors said all technology deployed in elections must remain subject to “human oversight, transparency, accountability and legal verification.” The Guild also raised concerns over the growing use of artificial intelligence in election-related disinformation, warning that generative AI, deepfakes, voice cloning and automated networks could undermine public confidence in the electoral process. It noted that synthetic content could now be rapidly produced and distributed, including fabricated election results, cloned voices of public officials, forged documents, manipulated result sheets and fake reports attributed to established media organisations. “The greatest danger is not merely the circulation of individual falsehoods but the broader erosion of public trust when citizens become unable to distinguish authentic information from fabricated content,” the Guild said. It consequently urged newsrooms to institutionalise fact-checking and verification systems and integrate digital verification, deepfake detection and forensic tools into their editorial workflows ahead of the 2027 elections. The editors also reaffirmed the Nigerian Media Code of Election Coverage (Revised 2022), jointly endorsed by the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria, Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria, Nigeria Union of Journalists, NGE, Radio, Television, Theatre and Arts Workers Union and Guild of Corporate Online Publishers. The Guild urged news organisations to adopt the code and train journalists and other editorial staff on its provisions. On the role of the media, the NGE reaffirmed its responsibility to provide accurate, verified and independent information while scrutinising governments, political parties and other centres of power. It, however, cautioned that media scrutiny should not amount to suppressing legitimate achievements. The Guild called for evidence-based journalism that neither exaggerates failures nor suppresses verified achievements, stressing that editorial neutrality means impartiality among legitimate political contenders. It added that neutrality did not require journalists to remain silent in the face of verified wrongdoing or create false equivalence between established facts and unverified claims. The conference also called on governments at all levels to remain transparent and accountable and cooperate with the media in the legitimate exercise of its watchdog role, including scrutiny of public programmes and expenditure. It urged government and political actors to guarantee equitable access to media space for both government and opposition voices while respecting editorial independence. On election security, the Guild declared that the protection of journalists must be an integral part of electoral security. It warned that the electoral process could not be fully transparent where journalists were threatened, attacked, obstructed or prevented from independently observing and reporting events. It therefore called on security agencies and political actors to protect journalists and allow them to perform their constitutional and professional responsibilities without intimidation. The editors also addressed the challenge of reporting terrorism, noting the need to balance the public’s right to know with the risk that irresponsible reporting could amplify terrorist propaganda, aid recruitment, compromise security operations or traumatise victims. The conference consequently endorsed the principle, “Inform, Don’t Amplify.” It urged newsrooms to identify terrorist claims as claims until independently verified and avoid reproducing propaganda, recruitment messages, slogans or graphic material except where there was compelling editorial justification. The Guild said acts of terrorism should be reported responsibly and accurately without giving undue publicity or “oxygen” to terrorist organisations or inadvertently encouraging further violence. The NGE also reaffirmed that the media should remain “pro-Nigeria, pro-Ballot and pro-People”, rather than align with any political party. It stressed that the credibility of Nigeria’s democracy ultimately depended on an electoral process in which citizens could make informed choices, cast their votes freely and have confidence that their votes would be accurately counted and respected.