GOCOP 6th annual conference communique

On Thursday, October 6, 2022, the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP) held its Annual Conference at the Sheraton Hotels in Ikeja, Lagos.

The conference's theme was "2023 Elections: Managing the Process for a Credible Outcome."

The keynote address was delivered by Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

Dr. Solomon Arase, a former Inspector General of Police, and Dr. Chichi Aniagolu-Okoye, Regional Director, Ford Foundation (West Africa), were panelists.

Dr. Umar Ardo, Founder of the Centre for Alternative Policy Perspectives and Strategy, presided over the conference (CAPPS).

RESOLUTIONS

These decisions were made by the Conference:

1. GOCOP should work to eliminate the scourge of fake news, maintain professionalism within the Guild, and promote the growth and development of the Nigeria's online media.

2. Professionally cover the electoral process by adhering to journalism ethics in election reporting, namely fairness, objectivity, and balance.

3. GOCOP should work with INEC, political parties, security agencies, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), labor unions, and other relevant stakeholders to ensure that the 2023 general elections are conducted in accordance with the letter and spirit of the Electoral Act.

4. The development and implementation of policies and interventions to help online publishers remain commercially viable and competitive in terms of quality reporting.

5. Notifies political parties and politicians that the political environment is already tainted and cautions them to avoid bitter and divisive politics by ensuring that their campaigns are free of foul and vulgar abuses.

6. Applauds INEC for actively engaging with various stakeholders, particularly politicians, security apparatchiks, the media, the electorate, and so on.

7. Recognizes INEC's incremental and consistent deployment of appropriate technology to advance the cause of achieving credible elections, from voter registration to voting, tallying, and transmission of election results.

8. Applauds the implementation and use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) portal, which ensures real-time upload of polling unit results.

9. Calls on all political parties and candidates to follow the tenets of the Peace Accord agreement, which they signed, and to ensure that the spirit of the agreement is respected by all political actors.

10.Warnings that no party, individual, or both should use the power of incumbency to the detriment of other political parties or candidates during the campaign and election.

11. Recognizes the media's critical role in election management, urging GOCOP to speak out strongly against fake news, deceptive reporting, and other acts that could undermine the credibility of the upcoming elections.

12. Requests INEC to focus on a peaceful campaign free of abusive, intemperate, and slanderous language, as well as the use of innuendoes or insinuations that could provoke a counter-reaction and result in a breach of the peace.

13. Divides the roles of the police in elections into three categories: before, during, and after the election, and encourages professionalism among security personnel during elections.

14. Notifies the electorate that all political parties are involved in election manipulation, particularly in their areas of strength, and urges internal vigilance.

15. Condemns insufficient security personnel for deployment during elections, given that nearly half of the country's security personnel have been assigned as orderlies to non-state actors.

16. Encourages the media to embrace institutional synergy with civil society organizations and security personnel in order to avoid conflicts between these groups of stakeholders.

17. Bemoans the current situation in which electoral offenders walk free without being arrested and, even when arrested, are not prosecuted.

18. Requests that the Federal Government establish an Electoral Offences Tribunal to expedite and unburden adjudication of electoral offenses and offenders.

19. Regrets that we are at the bottom of where we should be as a nation, but notes that the 2023 election provides Nigerians with the opportunity to choose leaders of whom they can be proud and to correct any mistakes made in the past.

20. Applauds INEC for having the courage to push for the passage of the Electoral Bill, as well as President Muhammadu Buhari for incorporating the Bill into an Act of Parliament, which will improve the credibility of the 2023 elections.

21. Applauds INEC's use of technology and hopes that INEC can continue to fine-tune technology to the point where we will no longer need to use ballot papers in the future.

22. Requests INEC to find a way to make the collection of Permanent Voter Cards, or PVCs, easier.

23. Notes that, for the first time in Nigerian history, we will have an INEC Chairman who will oversee two consecutive elections, indicating system stability.

24. Declares that the use of technology will eliminate rigging schemes such as vote allocation, changing of results, snatching of ballot boxes, irregular voting, or voting by minors.

25. Calls on politicians to be civil and to accept that elections will produce winners and losers, and that at the end of the process, they must accept defeat and victory.

26. Applauds GOCOP's role in combating quackery in online journalism.