Politics
Zambian President-Elect’s Inauguration Set For Tuesday
The Zambian government has confirmed that the inauguration of President-elect, Hakainde Hichilema, will be held on Tuesday, 24 August, at the Heroes Stadium in the capital, Lusaka.
The event is scheduled to start at 08:00 a.m. local time, but owing to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, attendance is strictly by invitation. The stadium will open early to allow guests to enter and gates will close at 07:30 a.m. for a security screening.
Ministry of Information Permanent Secretary, Amos Malupenga, has reassured Zambians not able to attend that they will be able to follow the ceremony via TV, radio and social media.
The inauguration comes just under a week after Hichilema’s landslide election victory was announced on Monday this week. The United Party for National Development (UPND) leader beat incumbent President Edgar Lungu by a margin of nearly a million votes and secured strong support from across Zambia’s 10 provinces.
The UPND enjoyed further success at the parliamentary level, winning in 82 of Zambia’s 156 constituencies – granting the party a majority of four seats in the National Assembly.
Meanwhile, outgoing President Lungu has claimed that some of his colleagues and advisors pressured him to reject the results of last week’s presidential elections and petition to have them overturned.
Lungu said he decided against disputing the results because of the likely violence that would have broken out during the two-week arbitration period.
Speaking to mourners at the funeral of late Patriotic Front North Western Province Chairman, Jackson Kungo, Lungu said he had felt “under pressure” from several colleagues to petition the election results in court.
“I said let’s just give up. Those who want to go and contest for their Parliamentary seats can do so but I think the Presidential petition will not help us. That’s how I abandoned it,” he revealed.
This is contrary to claims that Lungu made last week before the results were announced, when he questioned the fairness of the election during the counting process. On Saturday, the president said that voting in Southern, North Western and Western provinces had been “characterised by violence” and as such the entire election should be considered “a nullity”.
The Commission disclosed the figure in its weekly update for week 14 of the second phase of the exercise, which ended on Friday, April 17, 2026.
According to the breakdown, 2,259,288 Nigerians completed their registration through the online pre-registration portal, while 1,489,416 finalized their registration physically at designated centres nationwide.
INEC noted that the figures remain preliminary and are subject to further verification and data cleaning processes to ensure accuracy ahead of the consolidation of the national voter register.
With the conclusion of the registration phase, the Commission has now shifted focus to the display of the Register of Voters for Claims and Objections, a statutory stage aimed at strengthening the credibility and integrity of the voters register.
The display exercise is scheduled to hold from April 29 to May 5, 2026, across designated centres nationwide, providing citizens the opportunity to verify their details and raise objections where necessary.
The Commission urged all registered voters from the concluded phase to take advantage of the exercise to confirm the accuracy of their information and assist in identifying ineligible entries, including duplicate registrations, deceased persons, and non-citizens.
INEC explained that the Continuous Voter Registration exercise is being conducted in phases, with the first phase running from August 18 to December 10, 2025, while the second phase commenced on January 5, 2026 and ended on April 17, 2026.
The Commission further stated that the date for the commencement of the third phase will be announced in due course.
Reaffirming its commitment to credible elections, INEC stressed that maintaining a clean and accurate voter register remains central to ensuring free, fair, and transparent electoral processes in Nigeria.
The Executive Director of IPC, Mr Lanre Arogundade, informed the journalists that the dialogue was sponsored by the European Union, under the auspices of the EU-Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EU-SDGN II), Component 4: Support to Media.
According to the veteran media practitioner, the programme is aimed at strengthening the capacity of the media to promote credible elections through factual, accurate and fair reporting.
He explained that the programme is part of a broader five-year intervention designed to support democratic governance and improve the role of the media in Nigeria’s electoral process, stressing that fact-checking and inclusive reporting are critical responsibilities for journalists, especially during electioneering.
He described the media as a central role agent with regard to upholding transparency and accountability in the democratic process.
A resource person and Director of Journalism Clinic, Lagos, Mr Taiwo Obe, enjoined journalists to embrace the evolving technology so that they would not be in the backwaters in the practice of the profession.
He advised journalists not to downplay Artificial Intelligence (AI) in their bid to remain relevant in the media environment by being abreast of the changing patterns of news consumption.
The journalism teacher explained that with digital transformation of the media industry, it had become imperative for journalists to constantly upgrade and update their skills, stressing the fundamental place of attitude and self-development and underscored the dynamic nature of media consumption in the digital age, thereby compelling journalists to embrace tools and platforms, but without much reliance on AI.
In his lecture, a Professor of Mass Communication at the Federal University Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE), Adebola Aderibigbe, advised journalists in Ekiti State to ensure that coverage of the upcoming governorship poll is issue-based rather than dwelling on personalities.
He added that sensationalism should not occupy the front-burner of any discussions concerning the 2026 election, admonishing that sustenance of democracy is anchored on responsible journalism.
”Journalists must prioritise accuracy, fairness and balance in their reports by verifying facts and giving all parties involved in political matters the opportunity to present their views”, he said.
According to the university don, the election will not be defined by personalities, but by issues. ”Let issues be the pivotal ring upon which every discussion should be made. Sensationalisation of issues should not be the bedrock of discussions in the 2026 election”, he added.
“Do not hear from Party A without hearing from Party B, otherwise the report will be skewed to one side and once issues of elections are skewed, problems will naturally arise”, he stressed.