Kogi Election: Group Tasks Journalists On Credible, Balance Report

The Centre for Democracy and Development, CDD, has urged journalists covering the November 16 governorship election in Kogi State to be credible and avoid fake news.

 Ausitn Aigbe, CDD’s Senior Programme Officer, disclosed this in Lokoja on Monday, at a seminar on fake news organised in collaboration with the Kogi Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists.

The centre said that it will deploy no fewer than 300 observers to monitor the election.

Aigbe said that journalists had a huge role to play in the success of the electoral process through adherence to reportorial ethics.

He said, “Journalists will help the process by ensuring that facts are crosschecked, verified and balanced.

“They also must ensure that their reports are not fake or made up of half-truth.”

The Programme Officer urged newsmen to avoid fake news and planned propaganda which were intended to distort facts to favour certain parties.

Aigbe stated fake news was a small portion of a bigger propaganda’, saying, `is has the potential to destroy a nation’

“As a state, Kogi is not moved by religion but by ethnicity; ethnicity moves people in Kogi more than religion.

“We must not allow it to trigger violence across the state, and so we have a responsibility as journalists to right the wrongs”.

He urged journalists to publish information that could be relied upon for society’s growth.

Aigbe said there was need for adequate monitoring of all stages of the election to ensure credibility.

He said that the interest of the centre in the electoral process was to check manipulation and other forms of irregularities.

The CDD official said the centre was working with support from the National Democratic Institute and USAID, to ensure electoral credibility.

Send Us A Press Statement Advertise With Us Contact U

 And For More Nigerian News Visit GWG.NG