On Saturday, President Bola Tinubu congratulated Eze Anaba, who had just been elected President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, calling the electoral process “exemplary” for Nigerian politics.Dele Alake, Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Special Duties, Communications, and Strategy, issued a statement on Saturday evening reading, “By its peaceful and rancour-free conduct of elections to elect its new officers, the NGE has sent a resounding message to the larger Nigerian polity that elections for desired offices can be intensely competitive without degenerating into bitterness, acrimony, and needless malice.”
On Friday, June 16, the Guild elected Anaba, the Editor of Vanguard Newspapers, at its 2023 Biennial Convention in Imo State. He received 250 votes to defeat Bolaji Adebiyi, a former employee of ThisDay Newspapers and his lone opponent, who received 81 votes.Anaba takes over for the Silverbird Group’s Mustapha Isah, whose two-year term was up.Despite the ferocity of the competition for the various positions sought after, Tinubu said it is extremely satisfying that the outcome was successful and without animosity.
He asserted that it is crucial for the NGE, the Nigerian Union of Journalists, and the Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria, among other newspaper industry unions, to adopt an internal democratic ethos in support of professional integrity for the country’s good governance, stability, and long-term development. “The NGE has, in this regard, made a strong statement for the Nigerian media as a worthy exemplar,” the President declared. In this regard, Tinubu praised those who lost in the elections on different levels, like Adebiyi, for accepting the results and pledging support for the victorious candidates. “This is a light the NGE is showing that the rest of us may find the way to a mature, tolerant, stable and sustainable democratic culture,” he said. However, the President noted that the challenges facing the media in playing its role in promoting good, responsible, and accountable governance as well as strengthening Nigeria’s democracy are greater than those faced in the past.
Going back in time, Tinubu emphasised the media’s pivotal role in the fight against colonial imperialism and how closely it was tied to the future of the Nigerian state and its citizens. “It is impossible to write the history of the democratic benefits we have experienced since the beginning of this dispensation in 1999 without emblazoning the late Chief MKO Abiola,” the statement reads. “The press was active in the struggle against military dictatorship in post-colonial Nigeria. This opposition to autocracy was particularly exemplified in the fierce opposition of patriotic media practitioners to the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election.” Beyond the emergence of new leaders, Tinubu argued that the bigger picture is to make sure that the Guild members put the profession in a strong position to consistently fulfil its constitutional obligation of acting as a watchdog of the people, limiting government excesses and advancing the interests of the greatest number of our citizens. So, he promised that his administration would support him in working with the media to achieve “these lofty objectives in the best interest of our country.”
