Editors demand 50% threshold, election disputes resolved before swearing-in

The Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) has called for constitutional and electoral reforms that would require a presidential candidate to secure at least 50 per cent of votes cast to win an election, with a run-off where no candidate meets the threshold.

The Guild also demanded that electoral disputes be resolved before the swearing-in of declared winners to strengthen public confidence in Nigeria’s electoral system.

The resolutions were contained in a communiqué issued at the end of the 22nd All Nigeria Editors Conference (ANEC 2026), held in Enugu from September 24 to 26.

The conference, themed “The Ballot, the Media and the Task of Keeping Democracy Alive,” brought together more than 500 editors, publishers and senior media practitioners, alongside political, traditional, religious, academic, regulatory and development-sector stakeholders.

The NGE also called for reforms to the process of appointing the Chairman, National Commissioners and Resident Electoral Commissioners of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as well as State Electoral Commissioners.

It urged the government to address what it described as structural concerns in the electoral system, including limitations on ordinary voters challenging election results and the absence of a constitutional framework for independent candidacy.

The editors expressed concern over public perceptions that judicial interventions in some electoral disputes could displace results recorded at the ballot box.

While stressing the need to respect judicial independence, the Guild called for electoral adjudication to be timely, transparent, predictable and impartial, with genuine electoral irregularities properly addressed.

The NGE also identified artificial intelligence, deepfakes, voice cloning and automated networks as growing threats to electoral information ahead of the 2027 general elections.

It warned that fabricated election results, cloned voices of public officials, forged documents, manipulated result sheets and fake reports attributed to established media organisations could be produced and distributed rapidly.

According to the Guild, the danger extends beyond individual falsehoods to the erosion of public trust when citizens can no longer distinguish authentic information from fabricated content.

It therefore urged newsrooms to institutionalise fact-checking and verification systems and integrate digital verification, deepfake detection and forensic tools into their editorial workflows.

The editors also reaffirmed the Nigerian Media Code of Election Coverage (Revised 2022), urging media organisations to adopt the code and train journalists ahead of the 2027 elections.

On election security, the Guild called on security agencies and political actors to protect journalists covering elections, warning that the electoral process could not be fully transparent where journalists were threatened, attacked or obstructed.

The NGE further urged INEC to strengthen cybersecurity and electoral technology partnerships, ensure the technical integrity of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and safeguard the commission’s institutional independence.

On terrorism reporting, the editors endorsed the principle, “Inform, Don’t Amplify,” urging journalists to report attacks accurately while avoiding the unnecessary reproduction of terrorist propaganda, recruitment messages and graphic materials.

The Guild reaffirmed that the media should remain “pro-Nigeria, pro-Ballot and pro-People,” rather than align with any political party.

It also called for evidence-based journalism that scrutinises governments and political parties while fairly reporting verified achievements and developments.