THE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN POLITICAL MOBILIZATION DURING THE 2019 GENERAL ELECTION IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This study was on the use of social media in political mobilization during the 2019 general election in Nigeria. Four objectives were raised which included; To determine the impact of the social media on political mobilization in the 2019 Nigeria general elections, to examine whether or not the social media influences the perception of youths on politicians’ image on social media, to examine whether one political activity on social media messages can affect other political thinking and  to determine the level of credibility Nigerian youths attach to political messages on social media. A total of 77 responses were received and validated from the enrolled participants where all respondents were drawn from selected residents in Lagos state. Hypothesis was tested using Chi-Square statistical tool (SPSS).

 Chapter one

Introduction

1.1Background of the study

Over the past decade, the role of social and digital media (web 2.0) has been amplified to becoming a veritable tool in enhancing social change and political engagement since, the Obama election campaigns of 2008 and 2012 as well as the Arab spring that spread through North Africa. Indeed, communication on media has always been central to democracy and its institutions. Scholars like Garrett (2006), Castells (2012), Morozov (2015, 2012), Bennett and Segerberg (2012), and Bosch (2017) in the fields of media, political science and information communication have emphasized how social media has helped in social and political movements; facilitating and promoting democratisation, reinforcing social change and commitments from governments.

The emergence of the Internet as the new mass medium of the 21st century now changes the mass media substantially. Information can be distributed at high speed, low cost, and broad scope and as a result, there is egalitarian access to the production and the consumption of news (Prat and Strömberg, 2015).

The Nigerian 2019 general elections was a significant departure from the norm in Nigerian political history. It was the first time that a ruling party was voted out of power.  It was also the first time that more than three biggest Nigerian opposition parties, and a faction of the fourth came together and successfully formed a single political party (merger) in order to unseat an incumbent government, People’s Democratic Party, PDP. The winner of 2019 presidential elections, the All Progressives Congress, APC, was a merger (in February 2013) of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) – and a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). So also the first time a peaceful and mature transition occurred, where an incumbent president accepted defeat and bowed out.

While any of the factors listed above, and many more, may claim sole credit for the unique success of the 2019 general elections, the reality is a combination of various factors, one of which is the openness and transparency that digital technology made possible.   The social media was used in an unprecedented fashion to publicize, advocate, and post information online as political and electoral events unfold.  Both the politicians and the electorate used social media extensively to further their goals. It is therefore more accurate to say, the tactical strategy from opposition politicians to use all means, including the internet to ensure a defeat of the incumbent administration on the one side, as well as the determination of the electorate to use whatever channel is available including the social media to make sure their votes count in the 2019 general elections was much more pronounced than in any election before it.

The recent election of Muhammadu Buhari as president of Nigeria has been hailed internationally as a historic transfer of power for Africa’s most populous nation with social media playing greater role or influenced the fairness of the election. Social media with all their flaws had the power of immediacy. They are also very participatory. In an election where you have citizens who are participating, they were also providing the news and information surrounding the elections. It was an empowerment of people through their votes, and also through their ability to disseminate information. That is not to say that traditional media didn’t play a role. But the social media role was central. The world is becoming increasingly connected via the power of the Internet; Facebook launched internet.org an initiative to gain even the most remote parts of society access to the World Wide Web. Political movements have begun to see social media as a major organizing and recruiting tool and the reverse can be said for society. Social media (done right) gives you all this because it’s inherently a two-way communication system. Rather than getting brand messages, you get recommendations from friends in the form of re-shares and recommended posts, which de-commercializes the brand message.

Social media is that space, the many tools helping to amplify the voices of average Nigerians, taking ordinary voice sand making them extraordinary by bringing them to homes, offices, and places most of them would have probably never reached under different circumstances. It started out as a playground for mostly young jobless people. Today, it has become the battle ground of what would arguably be the most competitive election in Nigeria‘s history.

The advent of internet and technology has exposed majority of the global population to different interactive platforms on which different kind of information is exchanged which might significantly have effect on human behavior, decision and judgment (CES,2012). Social media are new information network and information technology using a form of communication utilizing interactive and user-produced content, and interpersonal relationships are created and maintained.

According to Eugene, 2019. The popularity of getting political news from social media platforms is greatly increasing. A 2014 study showed that 62% of web users turn to Facebook to find political news. This social phenomenon allows for political information, true or not, spreading quickly and easily among peer networks. Furthermore, social media sites are now encouraging political involvement by uniting like-minded people, reminding users to vote in elections, and analyzing users’ political affiliation data to find cultural similarities and differences. As social media gains more popularity and scope, its impact on voters‘ political and cultural perceptions cannot be underestimated as social media practically influences the way users interact, communicate and make decisions on social, cultural, and political issues in today‘s world.

The social media has become a powerful medium which may affect voting behavior because of its potential to provide direct and cheap access to the production and consumption of current information at any part of the world without editorial filtering (Sunstein, 2001). Not only do social media provide information about political affiliations, candidates and their party manifestoes, it also provides a platform through which voters across cultural divides can relate and interact with themselves on issues about these candidates.  Social media can help taint the reputation of political figures fairly quickly with information that may or may not be true. Information spreads like wildfire and before a politician can even get an opportunity to address the information, either to confirm, deny, or explain, the public has already formed an opinion about the politician based on that information. However, when conducted on purpose, the spread of information on social media for political means can help campaigns immensely. Open forums online have also been the root of negative and positive effects in the political sphere. Some politicians have made the mistake of using open forums to try and reach a broader audience and thus more potential voters. What they forgot to account for was that the forums would be open to everyone, including those in opposition. Having no control the comments being posted, negative included, has been damaging for some with unfortunate oversight. Additionally, a constraint of social media as a tool for public political discourse is that if oppressive governments recognize the ability social media has to cause change.

Nearly every political party in the country used social media to campaign and advance its plans, message and manifestos to supporters including advertising, mobilization and organizing in all the states of the federation, and even fundraising. Facebook, YouTube and especially Twitter were used to let voters know how each party or particular candidate felt about important national issues ranging from security to power. Hence social media became powerful enough to influence voter decisions and choices as many voters who had fixed their minds and conscience on voting a particular party or candidate began to change their minds based on certain information or idea they got online about the party or candidate. Information gotten by a particular voter was also not static, as the same voter would use several internet tools and buttons to broadcast same message to other voters like him through medium such as blogs, Facebook, Nairaland, chat rooms etc. in order to influence them.

Statement of the problem

Social media has served as a specialized platform of modern human communication and is now part of the political culture of most democratic nations across the globe, Nigeria inclusive. Usage of social media is one of the most dominant forms of communication between politicians and the electorate, and it is massively and strategically exploited by the politicians across the globe to achieve their targeted goals as regard projecting positive images, retaining offices, and maintaining relationships with their publics. Social media has been useful in aiding exchange of information between the political candidates and electorate; it helps citizens to be informed and influence their political choices, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviour towards certain political candidates (Victor, Ikechukwu, Gerald & Chinedum, 2017). Incidentally, in Nigeria, the everyday use of social media by politicians, and the manner in which the user-citizen interacts with the social network sites/pages of politicians has received rather less attention. Essentially, politicians expect the communication relationship to be positive and of benefit to them, thus, political gladiators of all shades of opinions, ideologies, intents and goals use the media with the belief that political communication through them might exert pressure or have an influence on people’s perception and behaviours. This conception of the effect of social media is akin to the historical and cultural dominance of print and electronic media and the perceived hypodermic needle effect of mass media messages. In view of the perceived impact of the media whether from the ‘maximalists’ or ‘minimalists’ perspective, profit driven mentality of competition for political space has given rise to both ethical and unethical political communication using all available platforms of interpersonal and mass communication (Victor et al., 2017) Apart from the traditional media, the social media is another medium through which the government and especially the presidential candidates reached out to mobilize youths in the 2019 general elections. This study is to examine the use of social media as a veritable mobilization tool for electioneering campaigns in general elections. The study will also examine how the use of social media had influenced the political participation of Nigerian youths with regard to the 2019 presidential elections. The foregoing notwithstanding, this study intends to investigate the effectiveness of the use of social media as a political platform in Nigeria and how the increasing advantages of social media can be harnessed and applied in making the electorate to possess their political sovereignty by transparently voting–in and voting–out political office holders and governments democratically without undue interference or hindrance (ChineduOkeke et al., 2016)

Objective of the study

1. To determine the impact of the social media on political mobilization in the 2019 Nigeria general elections.
2. To examine whether or not the social media influences the perception of youths on politicians’ image on social media.
3. To examine whether one political activity on social media messages can affect other political thinking.
4. To determine the level of credibility Nigerian youths attach to political messages on social media.

Research hypotheses

The following research hypotheses were formulated;

H1: there is no impact of the social media on political mobilization in the 2019 Nigeria general elections

H2: there is no level of credibility Nigerian youths attach to political messages on social media

Significance of the study

Firstly, the significance of this study will be found in the gap it fills by answering its research questions. Secondly, the research will be of immense benefit to politicians, political parties, media consultants, electoral umpires and government across all levels as it will help them to know and appreciate the gains and efficacy of using social media tools and how best to handle it for projecting the image of their clients and increasing awareness of the political candidates. The findings of this study will contribute to the sustainable development of democracy in Nigeria. The youth are the future and drivers of any country, therefore conducting researches/studies into their political, social behavior is of paramount importance (Adedeji, 2015).

Scope and limitation of the study

The scope of the study covers the use of social media in political mobilization during the 2019 general election in Nigeria.

It will be of more importance to highlight certain militating factors that tend to narrow or limit my scope of study. This project research would have been easier if not for these limitating factors:

1. Time factor:time was not on the researchers to consult various sectors of the economy to review employees or given out questionnaire to various institutions on the effect of government revenue policies.
   As we all know, time is never our friend. The time scheduled for the completion of this research thesis was too short. As a result, generating information/data was strenuous as it coincides with final year examination period, which needed attention.
2. Finance:this is another barrier that limited the researcher’s work.
3. Available resources:was unavailable for the research work.

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