Senior journalists from the continent and other election stakeholders at a recent gathering facilitated by the Democratic for Good Governance Project of the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP heard many reasons why governance should not be overtaken by election drums.

It was a remarkable departure from the years of yore when gatherings of Africans from across the continent were characterised with talks of liberation. In fact, none of the media professionals from the 12 Africans countries that converged on Abuja at the end of last month came from a country under military dictatorship.

But then that did not mean uhuru. The continent as it was confirmed last week by the assessors of the Mo Ibrahim prize for exemplary leadership is still pockmarked by bad governance, authoritarianism and associated ills.

It was as such instructive that the two-day International Experience Sharing on Media and Elections conference on September 26 and 27 became an opportunity for the continent’s media men and democracy stakeholders to review the circumstances that have limited the progress of democracy in Africa. The conference organised by the Democratic Governance for Development, DGD project of the United Nations Development Programmer, UNDP drew participants from Nigeria, Togo, Ghana, the Gambia, Senegal, Tunisia, Kenya, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo Brazzaville, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu who declared the conference opened in his address warned that Nigerians were about making elections as the beginning and the end of democracy. He was particularly blunt in asserting that issues about the 2015 election were distracting governance in the country. Besides Ekweremadu, other dignitaries that graced the conference were Speaker Aminu Tambuwal who was represented by the deputy chairman of the House Committee on Media and Publicity, Rep. Afam Ogene, veteran broadcast journalist Dr. Tonnie Iredia, senior officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, senior officials of the Nigerian Union of Journalists among others.

Dr. Ireida who is a former director-general of the Nigerian Television Authority, NTA in his keynote speech to the conference said the Nigerian media was reflective of the society and decried what he described as the seeming reluctance of INEC to adopt technology as a way of checking malpractices in the voting process.

Declaring the conference open Ekweremadu said: “It is now a little less than two years away from the next general election and politicking and contestations are presently at a feverish pitch. The nation is already caught in the political fireworks of 2015.”

“Governance  has taken the backstage. We have turned Nigeria into an election nation in perpetuity. After election, mandate delivery should follow and those already elected deserve some breathing space to do their work, while the media and the public should hold them accountable to their promises. On the other hand, those elected into offices should also concern themselves less about the next election, knowing that only one good term deserves another.”

Nothing that it was the responsibility of the media to redirect the political class, he said: “while we hold the politicians responsible for overheating the system, we should also ask ourselves if the Fourth Estate of the Realm have done enough to temper the political trepidation over 2015 general election.”

“Nigerians look up to the media as agenda setters to chart the trajectory of national discourse to those key governance issues that affect the lives of the ordinary Nigerian. The media should not play into the hands of those bent on making political hostages out of the nation and her people. It is unacceptable. I urge members of the media to turn down the volume on the 2015 election. It is too loud. I urge you to redirect the attention of the leaders and the political class to service and guide the people to hold their leaders accountable.

Ekweremadu in his speech said the increasing tension in the polity again brought to question the decision of the Senate to throw away the proposal of a six year single tenure for executive office holders.

“This unnecessary overheating of the polity over 2015 ambitions and contestations also brings us to the question of the appropriate tenure of office for our elected executives. Did we throw away the single term as recommended by the Senate Committee on Constitution Review in a hurry”.

The president of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ Garba Mohammed in his remarks also drew attention to the increasing campaigns for 2015 election saying that if care is not taken that governance will be brought to a standstill. He thus urged INEC to as part of its constitutional responsibilities to call the political class to order.

Speaker Tambuwal who was represented by the deputy chairman of the House Committee on Media and Publicity, Rep. Victor Ogene tasked the media to be always guided by the constitution in its reportage of political developments in the country. Citing recent developments in the Kaduna and Rivers State Houses of Assembly and the Nigerian Governors Forum, NGF, he said it was wrong for the media to report illegal acts of politicians without pointing out their wrongs.

Iredia who was the keynote speaker in his address, said every society gets the media it deserves. Noting the charge from Senator Ekweremadu, he said it is a difficult challenge to get the media in Nigeria to turn down the volume given that some politicians behave as if they were born drunk.

Political game

He nevertheless tasked journalists to bring actors in the political game to account, noting for instance that INEC has continued to talk of permanent voters’ cards, but yet to no avail. He also lamented the poor quality of debate among the political class describing strange occurrences as in 2011 when one political candidate was brought to debate with himself.

Criticizing the use of university vice-chancellors as returning officers, he said:

“INEC has brought a system that I have been criticizing whereby they now bring VCs as returning officers for election, but the VCs have not been able to stop exam malpractices in their schools,” as he charged the election management body to up its use of technology.

Earlier, DGD project director, Dr. Mourtada Deme had welcomed participants from across the continent saying that the conference was packaged to prepare the media in Nigeria for the forthcoming elections.