2023 Polls Not Entirely a Sham – Communication Experts
By Lawan Bukar Maigana
Renowned Nigerian communication teachers and practitioners under the aegis of the Consortium of Nigerian Communication Experts (CoNCE) said that the presidential and National Assembly polls held penultimate Saturday were not a sham.
CoNCE noted that it critically and objectively analyzed the recent presidential election campaigns and the results of the voting, hence it concluded that although there were some positive outcomes, many things went wrong.
The group, in a statement obtained by Politics Digest, said that the things that were adjudged to have gone wrong in the lead up to the election were divisive, unethical, and unprofessional communication campaign strategies, tactics, and messages that created unnecessary tension.
Part of the communique reads: “Overemphasis on religion and ethnicity and the exploitation of personal and group identity in appealing to supporters.
“The unnecessary denigration of individual presidential candidates, their character, and personality.
“Overpromising on the preparedness of the electoral institutions, especially INEC, which had assured the government and people of its absolute preparedness for successful conduct of free and fair elections.
“The negative influence of money in buying votes and bribing electoral officers. The unexpected decision of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to introduce new Naira notes within a very short time.
“The use of politicians instead of trained professional communicators as spokespersons for some of the political parties. And many others.
“Relating to the conduct of voting, the transmission, and the eventual announcement of the final results, the participants observed as follows:
“INEC failed to live up to the voters’ expectations because of the delays in the delivery of voting materials in some centres.
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“Compared to previous Nigerian elections, the conduct of this election was generally peaceful in spite of some flashpoints of violence, voter intimidation, and under-age voting.
“The much-publicized benefits of the new technologies of BVAS and iRev were not realized due to man-made errors that could have been avoided.
“Although the parties produced well-thought-out and colorfully designed manifestos, they did not find much use for these in the actual media campaigns because of their penchant for non-issues and innuendos rather than specific programs.
“In spite of the failures, there were free and fair voting and accurate reporting of results in many centres.
“The final results, as announced by INEC, showed that the major political parties performed along the same old traditional cleavages of religion, region, and ethnicity, even with the emergence of a third party that seemed to appeal more to the youths
“Recommendations:
The participants recommend that: The political parties should appoint spokespersons who are experienced communication professionals, and as much as possible, should use only duly registered Nigerian advertising and public relations agencies.
“INEC’s communication must improve its capacity to provide adequate public enlightenment and education on voting procedures to avoid such calamitous failures in future elections.
“INEC and the other information and communication organs of government, especially the National Orientation Agency (NOA) must collaborate closely and be guided by the public interest.
“The regulation of election campaign advertising must be sustained and the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON), as both a government agency and a body created to propagate the ethical conduct of advertising, should be fully empowered to discharge its functions.
“Greater use of communication professionals in all aspects of election campaigns is necessary for the attainment of desirable communication results in elections and subsequently in governance.
“That CONCE should, preparatory to future elections, organise relevant political communication training programmes for spokespersons of political parties and critical stakeholders”.
