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INEC CAUTIONS MEDIA ON DECLARATION OF RESULTS

October 7, 2026 • Dons Eze • 1 min read

Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Professor Joash Amupitan, has warned media organisation to resist declaring privately collated results in the 2027 polls.

Amupitan gave the warning on Tuesday in Abuja at a national stakeholders’ meeting convened to mark 100 days to the 2027 general election.

He stated that under the electoral act, the authority to declare results rests exclusively with the commission.

“The third is partnership with you in the media. I repeat the charge I gave to the members of the Nigerian Guild of Editors recently in Enugu.

“Establish fact-checking desks and use digital forensic tools in verifying your information. Verify with INEC before you publish.

“Resist the declaration of privately collated results, because under the Electoral Act, the authority to declare results rests exclusively with the Commission in national elections, it is far more important to be right than to be to be forced,” he said.

Dons Eze

DONS EZE, PhD, Political Philosopher and Journalist of over four decades standing, worked in several newspaper houses across the country, and rose to the positions of Editor and General Manager. A UNESCO Fellow in Journalism, Dr. Dons Eze, a prolific writer and author of many books, attended several courses on Journalism and Communication in both Nigeria and overseas, including a Postgraduate Course on Journalism at Warsaw, Poland; Strategic Communication and Practical Communication Approach at RIPA International, London, the United Kingdom, among others.