I write on behalf of the Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, to complain about the deliberate falsehood and misinformation contained in the Cover page story of Sunday Vanguard edition for January 4, 2015, titled as stated above.

The story in question provided statistics about the collection rate of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) across 28 states, in a 36-states-plus-one (i.e., the Federal Capital Territory) federation; but proceeded to infer a conclusive regional design of higher collection rate in one section of the country than the other. Consequently, the story was deliberately mute on, or simply ignored the following:

(i)            That the document your writer apparently sourced his figures from (which the Commission voluntarily put in public domain since early December 2014) clearly indicated that distribution of PVCs continued at local government offices of INEC at the end of the three-day exercise at polling unit level.

(ii)          That differences in levels of turn-out by people for their PVCs is not the making of INEC, since the Commission has put in place the same procedure across the country guaranteeing equal access to persons wanting to collect their cards. Rather than concoct conspiracy theories about INEC, a desire for public good should have motivated your writer to encourage persons in areas where collection rate is relatively low to urgently go and pick their PVCs; and

(iii)         That 28 states out of 36 states plus the FCT is not a complete picture, contrary to the writer’s pretention that he was presenting a comprehensive national profile. As a matter of fact, in calculating the percentages, your writer not only understated the percentage for South-West, for instance, if you take the average of individual state percentages that he himself indicated, he also conveniently ignored the fact that distribution in Ekiti and Osun states that was done earlier in 2014 was not included.

Really, nothing can surpass these in intellectual dishonesty and vocational mischief! It was expected that your reporter, if his motive were to sincerely inform the public, would have requested from INEC its official figures for the entire country on the subject of the story. The Commission has nothing to hide; so, kindly find attached the authentic data on the distribution of PVCs across the country to date. Note also, kindly, that these figures are far from being final for the 2015 general election, since PVC distribution by INEC continues until close to the elections.

It is also observed that the story alleges all manners of ‘conspiracies’ in the operations of INEC, including an allegation that “District Heads (in the North) were allowed to collect PVCs on behalf of prospective voters.” Sir, nothing can be further from the truth. The deliberate falsehood intended by your reporter was underscored by the fact that the story only cited unnamed (certainly fictitious) sources as well as purported ‘investigation’ by the paper; while no identifiable spokesperson of the Commission was given a say – even if only for record purposes. Certainly, this does not show the basic ethic of balanced reporting that is expected in responsible journalism.

Comments, as they say, are free but facts are sacred. It amounts to sheer malevolent journalism for one to cite cold statistics in making fabled claims. That is what your reporter has done and, with due respect, it really belittles your reputed newspaper stable and smacks of hatchet job for vested interests.

Sir, we all have a stake in this country and should be keen to contribute to the success of the imminent general election. Your newspaper will account to history if it falsely fans the embers of ethnicity and sectionalism as could create needless tensions in the polity around the elections. Even then, the dictates of professional ethics require some modicum of scrupulousness in the dissemination of information for public consumption!

Wishing you well and God’s guidance.

Cc: Publisher, Vanguard Media Limited