The Nigerian Guild of Editors, NGE, has called for far-reaching constitutional and electoral reforms, including a 50 per cent threshold for presidential elections and the resolution of electoral disputes before the swearing-in of declared winners.
The Guild also called for reforms to the appointment processes for the Chairman, National Commissioners and Resident Electoral Commissioners of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, as well as State Electoral Commissioners.
The resolutions were contained in a communiqué issued at the end of the 22nd All Nigeria Editors Conference, ANEC 2026, held in Enugu from September 24 to 26.
The communiqué was signed by the NGE President, Eze Anaba, and General Secretary, Onuoha Ukeh.
The conference, themed “The Ballot, the Media and the Task of Keeping Democracy Alive,” examined challenges confronting Nigeria’s electoral democracy ahead of the 2027 general elections.
It focused particularly on the threats posed by artificial intelligence, misinformation, disinformation, electoral insecurity and declining public confidence in the electoral process.
The Guild said the ballot remained the principal instrument through which citizens exercised their sovereign will, but stressed that its value depended on credible information, public confidence and the assurance that votes would be properly counted and respected.
The editors identified voter apathy as being influenced by poor governance, electoral violence and intimidation, administrative shortcomings, declining public confidence and concerns over the relationship between electoral outcomes and subsequent judicial decisions.
The Guild also expressed concern over perceptions that judicial interventions in electoral disputes could displace outcomes recorded at the ballot box.
While stressing the need to respect judicial independence, the editors called for electoral adjudication that is timely, transparent, predictable and impartial, with genuine irregularities appropriately addressed.
The Guild recommended that electoral disputes be resolved within appropriate timelines, preferably before the swearing-in of declared winners.
It also proposed a constitutional threshold requiring a presidential candidate to secure up to 50 per cent of votes cast, with a run-off where no candidate meets the threshold.
The editors further called for a review of restrictions on ordinary voters seeking to challenge electoral results and advocated a constitutional framework that would permit independent candidacy.
On emerging technology, the conference identified generative artificial intelligence, deepfakes, voice cloning and automated networks as major threats to the integrity of electoral information.
The Guild warned that synthetic content could be used to fabricate election results, clone the voices of public officials, forge documents, manipulate result sheets and circulate fake reports attributed to established media organisations.
It said the threat extended beyond individual falsehoods, warning that widespread synthetic content could erode public trust by making it increasingly difficult for citizens to distinguish authentic information from fabricated material.
The Guild therefore urged newsrooms to institutionalise fact-checking and verification systems and integrate digital verification, deepfake detection and forensic tools into their editorial workflows.
More than 500 editors, publishers and senior media practitioners from print, broadcast and digital platforms, alongside political, traditional, religious, academic, regulatory and development-sector leaders, attended the conference.
