What is published automatically
- News reports from established newsrooms on our trusted list, about a state, a candidate or the election.
- Shown exactly as the outlet wrote them: their headline and opening lines in quotes, credited by name and linked to the full report. We never reword, shorten into new meaning, or add our own opinion.
- Up to 5 stories a day for each state's desk and for national news.
What is never published
- Clickbait: headlines ending in ? or !, phrases like "you won't believe", "shocking" or "breaking", or words written in capitals for effect.
- Loaded verbs that take sides, such as "slams", "blasts", "knocks" or "fires back".
- Opinion pieces, columns, editorials and letters.
- Anything from blogs, social media or outlets not on our trusted list.
What always waits for a person
Stories on these subjects are only published after someone at VotersDesk has read the original report, because a mistake could harm a real person or the election:
- Arrests, charges, allegations and investigations
- Court cases, tribunals and disqualifications
- Violence, attacks and deaths
- Religion and ethnicity
- Opinion polls, surveys and percentages
- Results, winners and claims of rigging or vote-buying
- Health and private life
Balance between candidates and parties
- No more than 3 stories a week about the same person.
- No party's candidates in more than 40% of a week's stories, once there are at least 5.
Trusted newsrooms
Established newsrooms with editors and a record of publishing corrections. Listed alphabetically.
- Arise News
- BBC News
- BBC News Pidgin
- BusinessDay
- Channels Television
- Daily Trust
- Leadership
- News Agency of Nigeria
- Nigerian Tribune
- Peoples Gazette
- Premium Times
- Punch
- Reuters
- The Cable
- The Guardian Nigeria
- The ICIR
- The Nation
- The Sun
- TheCable
- ThisDay
- TVC News
- Vanguard
- Voice of Nigeria
When something is wrong
Rules can make mistakes. If a story should not be here, email editorial@votersdesk.com.ng. We remove stories that break this code and list corrections on the corrections page. Stories published through these rules are marked “Chosen automatically under the VotersDesk Editorial Code”.