The regulatory institutions of governments and the media have been urged to restructure the approach to election petition reportage in Nigeria and ensure that equal attention is given to the legislative election petition proceedings and not only the presidential election petition proceedings.
The Convener, African Parliamentary Advocates and Reform Groups, APARG, Ambassador Chibuzor Okereke made the call at the Press conference on poor reportage of National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal Proceedings in Abuja,
He said that the National Assembly was both the symbol and important governance institution that mirrors the democratic character of a nation-state, and the media provides critical oversight on the judiciary and complimentary efforts in the strive for democracy.
“For us at Coalition of Parliamentary Advocates and Democracy Consolidation Nigeria (CoPADeCoN at a time when the notions, ideas, and practices of democracy have come under great stress in the past decade. We believe that the legislature, judiciary, media, and active citizens have the utmost responsibility to continue to demonstrate resilience in ways and means that promote transparency, accountability, an equitable and responsible show of duty of care by all states and non-state-actors in solidarity with the prevailing ideas of democracy. Democracy is about the process which confers legitimacy based on constitutionalism,” Okereke said.
According to him, major media organisations are daily saturated with the reportage of the proceedings of the presidential election tribunals, with little or no attention given to National Assembly Elections Petition Tribunals.
He said, “The fourth estate of the realm which is saddled with the responsibility of setting agenda, enlightening, the public, and obligation of accountability of government to the people has unfortunately not shown the required interest in the coverage of the proceedings of National Assembly Election Petition Tribunals. We are deeply worried that the paucity of publicity of the major media coverage of the Legislative Election Petition Tribunals and by extension the oversight of Judiciary may have serious implications if not urgently addressed.
Ambassador Ike, while speaking on the Kano central election petition tribunal, noted that transparency in proceedings stopped people from taking laws in to their hands.
“It is call for action and our eyes are on the Kano central election petition tribunal judgment that is expected on July 24th, because it is intriguing and will show the sensitivity of the waiting nature of the electoral Act 2022. We believe that we should all comprehensively work together. The Legislature and the Judiciary are already suffering low perception, what we can do to improve on transparency and accountability of his institution is to make sure that whatever that is going is highlighted and projected to the public, so that when judgment are given, people can know and follow the basics of this judgment. If we don’t do that, people are might likely take laws in to their hands because they don’t know what happens at the elections petition tribunal and that why we made a call for action,” he explained.
Also speaking, a member of the coalition, Ifeoma Uga, urged the judiciary to always do the right thing to favour all citizens.
“The essence of this press conference is to plead with the media to beam the light more on the legislative tribunals. Is important that we have the media cover every aspect of the tribunal, be it the Executive, the legislature whether at the Federal or State level. And also we ask that the judiciary in all their might and everything stands up to do the right thing because Nigerians are looking up the judiciary to make the right decision that will not just favour a few but a large number of Nigerians,” she urged.
The briefing was organised by African Parliamentary Advocacy and Reform Group, in collaboration with Coalition of Parliamentary Advocates and Democracy Consolidation Nigeria (CoPADeCoN).
The group said, ” at a time when the notion, ideals, and practices of democracy have come under great stress in the past decade. We believe that the legislature, judiciary, media, and active citizens have the utmost responsibility to continue to demonstrate resilience in ways and means that promote transparency, accountability, an equitable and responsible show of duty of care by all State and non-state actors in solidarity with the prevailing ideals of democracy. Democracy is about the process which confers legitimacy based on constitutionalism.
“We use this opportunity therefore, to call on all watchdog institutions of governments, particularly the Media to retool the approach to Election Petition Reportage in Nigeria and ensure commensurate attention to the Legislative Election Petition Proceedings not just because the legislature is as important if not more important arm of the government but also the fact that the work of the media provides critical oversight on the Judiciary and complementarity efforts in the strive for democracy consolidation in Nigeria,” it said.
Confidence Okwuchi
