Former Catholic Archbishop of Abuja Diocese, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, and the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Alfred Achebe, have warned against the intimidation of voters during the 2027 general elections.
They made the call separately on Thursday at the 22nd All Nigeria Editors Conference organised by the Nigerian Guild of Editors, NGE, in Enugu.
The theme of the conference is “The Ballot, The Media and the Task of Keeping Democracy Alive.”
Onaiyekan, who was the Keynote Speaker, said the people must remain at the centre of governance, stressing that elections should be conducted in a manner that respected the wishes of citizens.
He said the quality of elections in Nigeria appeared to have declined over the years, urging political actors and electoral institutions to work toward ensuring free, fair and credible elections.
According to him, security agencies have a responsibility to provide a safe environment for voters without intimidating or harassing them.
“When security agents with their paraphernalia of force are all over the place, with sirens blaring everywhere, people are intimidated and many are even afraid to come out to vote,” he said.
Onaiyekan also called for reforms to strengthen the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, improve the electoral justice system and ensure that election petitions were resolved within a reasonable time.
He further proposed measures including greater independence in the appointment of electoral commissioners, special tribunals for election cases and reforms that would allow citizens to challenge election results where their votes were at stake.
The clergyman urged politicians to accept electoral outcomes in good faith, saying the judiciary should primarily resolve disputes arising from elections rather than determine winners.
Igwe Achebe, who is the chairman of the conference, said democracy could not be sustained without deliberate efforts by citizens and institutions to protect it.
He said the media had a critical role to play in ensuring that voters received accurate and credible information, particularly with the growing use of artificial intelligence to create false audio, video and images.
“The ballot is the citizen’s voice. The media is a mirror by which the citizen sees the world clearly enough to know what to say with that voice,” Achebe said.
He warned that the spread of AI-generated misinformation could undermine the integrity of elections if false content was not detected and debunked before, during and after elections.
“Today, falsehood can be manufactured by machines and disseminated with a persuasiveness that mimics truth so precisely that even trained eyes can struggle,” he said.
Achebe urged editors and journalists to strengthen fact-checking and verification mechanisms ahead of the 2027 elections.
Also speaking, Prof. Joash Amupitan, Chairman of INEC, represented by the Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, in Enugu, Dr Chukwuemeka Chukwu, said electoral institutions must strengthen electoral integrity and improve public service.
He said the use of technology in elections must remain subject to human auditing and legal verification to protect the credibility of the electoral process.
He urged media organisations to institutionalise fact-checking desks and integrate digital verification tools, deepfake detection software and forensic image analysis into their daily breaking-news workflows.
“The Commission is doing its part. We ask the media leadership gathered here to do its part. Fortify your newsrooms against AI-driven disinformation, prioritise verification over speed, and stand as an unyielding fortress of truth,” he said.
He said conducting a seamless and transparent election across 176,000 polling units in Nigeria would be a major task, but expressed confidence in the Commission’s preparedness for the 2027 elections.
Source: NAN
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