SOCIAL MEDIA AND DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS IN NIGERIA. A STUDY OF THE 2015 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

ABSTRACT

This study analyzed how online news media covered the 2015 presidential election in Nigeria. The aim is to establish the level of attention different parties received, portrayal of the parties and direction of reports. Three online media Viz: Sahara Reporters, Scan news and Premium Times were purposively selected. The period of the study was 1st January to 27th March 2015. A total of three hundred and twenty-three (323) items (news and feature articles) that touched on the 2015 presidential election were generated through Google search and websites of the three media. One hundred and sixty nine (169) items were randomly selected as the sample size. Data were analyzed using frequencies and simple percentages. Findings revealed that PDP and APC received most attention from the media with PDP having the highest number of reports. Aside the two parties, all the remaining parties were mostly invincible in the reports published by the media during the period studied. It was also discovered that the media were more interested in conflict related matters than issues like voter’s education. Among other recommendations made, the researcher called on government communication regulatory bodies to organize special workshop for online journalists on issues of ethics and responsible practice while legal and technological strategies need to be designed to curtail excesses of online journalists.

Background to the Study
Democracy is widely acknowledged as the best form of government in most parts of the world today. Elections, which represent the most modern and universally accepted process through which individuals are chosen to represent a body or community in a larger entity or government is one of the cardinal features of democracy (Nwabueze, Obasi & Obi, 2012). This is so because in a democracy, the authority of the government derives from the consent of the governed. This is perhaps why democracy is commonly referred to as “the government of the people by the people and for the people”.

Usually, a democratic election would characteristically be competitive, periodic, inclusive, definitive and free and fair (Chukwu, 2007). Nigeria’s democracy may be considered nascent when compared to the older democracies of the western world. Be that as it may, the 2015 presidential election has gone down in the history of the country as one of the best elections in the last few years of uninterrupted civilian rule in the land. (Udejinta, 2015), observes that one remarkable thing about the 2015 presidential elections was the adoption of social media especially the Facebook by the politicians, the political parties and the electorates as a platform for political participation. The importance attached to social media in the 2015 presidential elections was better explained by President Goodluck Jonathan’s decision to declare his intention to run for the highest political office in the land on facebook.

Jonathan had on Wednesday, September 15, 2010 informed his 217,000 fans on the world’s most popular networking platform (facebook) of his intent; 24 hours later, 4,000 more fans joined his page, and by the day of the election, on 16 January 2015, he had over half a million followers. His closest rivals – Alhaji Mohammed Buhari of the APC, Nuhu Ribadu of the ACN and Alhaji Shakarau of the ANPP were also among those that made heavy presence on facebook and other social media platforms. In addition to the approximately 3 million registered Nigerians on Facebook and 60,0900 on Twitter, almost every institution involved in Nigeria’s elections conducted an aggressive social networking outreach, including the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), political parties, candidates, media houses, civil society groups and even the police (Adibe, & Chibuwe, 2015).

Apart from the presidential candidates, many governorship aspirants, senatorial and house of assembly seat contenders from the various states of the federation also embarked on aggressive use of social media platforms especially the Facebook to disseminate their political messages, woo electorates and support groups towards the actualization of their goals. Before the advent of the new media, the older or conventional media – radio, television, newspapers, magazines, etc, ruled the world, and had directly or indirectly blocked popular participation in the electoral process. This is because there has always been scarcity of space and airtime given by the conventional media to the citizens to have their say in politics, governance and in the electoral process. Conventional media critics such as Udejinta, (2015); Chukwu, (2007); Nwabueze, Obasi, & Obi, (2012); cited in Abubakar, (2011) thus believe that voters were left with paid political propaganda containing only meaningless slogans, making them disinterested and cynical about politics. They argue that there is absence of serious debate in the conventional media that could make people to learn the substance of issues and policies proposals as well as related arguments, and that this disallows citizens from participating actively in political discourse. Meanwhile, social media is interactive, web-based media. They belong to the new genre of media that focus on social networking, allowing users to express themselves, interact with friends, share personal information, as well as publish their own views on the internet. The ubiquitous access of these online devices no doubt, has democratizing effects as they offer citizens opportunities for more fully engagement in the political process. Writing on this development, Chukwu, (2007) in his paper “Life in the Age of Self-Assembling message” cited in Adibe, & Chibuwe, (2015) observes that:

The value of the communication experience has undergone a sea-change; from the need to share it, to the need to share in it. Technology and social media in particular have brought power back to the people; with such technologies, established authorities are now undermined and users are now the experts. This implies that people can now consume media as wanted and needed rather than allowing media producers to schedule consumption time and content. A person can now communicate to anywhere from any place at any time. Again, using social media is less expensive than the outrageous political advertisements on the older media. The new media is flexible, accessible and affordable. They promote democratization of media, alter the meaning of geographic distance, and allow for increase in the volume and speed of communication. They are portable due to the mobile nature; they are interactive and open to all. Nigeria experimented the use of this technology for political discourse during the 2015 presidential elections. The platform gave voice to many Nigerian politicians and electorates alike to make their voice heard in the electoral process. Regardless of the successes, many lapses were observed and many lessons abound for future elections in the country. This research effect is therefore on social means and democratic election in Nigeria with the 2015 presidential election as a study case