By Steve Oni, Ilorin
The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has described the release of the time table for the 2019 general elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as a welcome development.
INEC had on Thursday announced the time table, fixing the presidential and National Assembly elections for February 16 and governorship and states assembly elections for March 2, in the year 2019.
The National Publicity Secretary of APC, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, made the position of the party known in Ilorin, the Kwara state, over the weekend during a programme tagged, “Media Parliament”, organised by the Kwara state Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
Abdullahi, who expressed the support of his party for INEC on the release of the elections’ time table some two years ahead of 2019, described the development as a good innovation.
While reacting to questions on the announcement by INEC, the APC spokesman said the commission is an independent body and was at liberty to choose when to hold elections in line with the nation’s constitution.
He said: ‘‘Nothing is wrong with what INEC has done, the reasons why many of us are a bit apprehensive is because we are not yet used to that kind of arrangement.
‘‘How many of us know that Donald Trump has already filled his papers for a second term? We as a party we are absolutely in support of it and don’t forget that INEC is absolutely independent.”
Earlier in his paper titled ‘‘Democracy and the Challenges of Fake News’’, the former senior editor with This Day newspaper, warned that ‘‘Nigeria is under attack’’ considering the danger posed by ‘‘merchants of fake news’’.
Abdulhahi regretted that ‘‘fake news is pushing real news out of the space’’ and that something urgent must be done to curtail it.
He said: ‘‘Information liberalisation that has strengthened democracy through the use of social media also contains the weapon through which democracy can commit suicide if the distortion of genuine information is passed to Nigerians continued unchecked.”
Speaking on the dangers posed by the spread of fake news, he said ‘‘If it is actually true that the spread of hate messages is a weapon of war, then Nigeria is under attack, Nigeria is under siege’’.
Chairman of the Kwara State Council of the NUJ, Comrade Biodun AbdulKareem in his remarks tasked the ruling APC government to work hard to bring about the desired change that Nigerians voted for in 2011.
He reminded the party that Nigerians sacrificed a lot to bring it into power and were yearning to see the change they voted for in their respective lives.