The Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP) has deepened its partnership with key international and local partners, especially the International Press Centre (IPC) in the ongoing drive to strengthen the country’s democratic process aimed at achieving peace and transparency during elections.
Treasurer of the Guild,, Mrs. Yemisi Izuora, in a goodwill remarks at the ‘Multi-Stakeholders Dialogue on Rebuilding Trust in the Electoral Process, Institutions and Elections,’ organised by the International Press Centre (IPC) and funded by European Union, said the summit offers opportunities for stakeholders including the media to proffer solutions to challenges that threaten elections in the country.
She said: “We are indeed happy to be invited to this programme which is about creating a conducive democratic environment for our dear country;” adding that “from research there is no perfect democracy anywhere in the world and different countries experience one form of distortion or the other.”
However, she observed that the only unfortunate thing is that the peculiarity of electoral violence and manipulation in Nigeria and other African countries is more worrisome.
She went on to stress that a dialogue of this nature is therefore very encouraging to continuously remind us of our responsibilities as the electorate to eschew violence, like intimidation, ballot box snatching, other political violence among others.
Izuora also commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for continuously addressing grey areas that give rise to some of the challenges we experienced before and after elections.
She also noted the importance of the Judiciary in dealing with political litigations speedily to allow elected officers settle down for business of governance.
Her words: “The INEC has cultivated the culture of engaging with various stakeholders before and after elections which is ongoing for Edo and Ondo governorship elections.
“Therefore this engagement is very encouraging and we lend our support to it and as media practitioners we too have a duty to ensure we discourage sensational headlines that are capable of speaking violence.”
She pledged that “above all, we in GOCOP are working with key government agencies to eliminate fake news whose impact has attempted to cause serious security issues.”