Political parties and politicians
participating in next month’s general elections have found another way
of reaching voters for the purpose of wooing them.
The politicians, many of who have pasted
posters and billboards in strategic locations across of the country,
have found the social media a useful platform to get closer to the
people, especially voters.
Just like celebrities take to the
platform to communicate with their fans, Nigerian politicians are also
quick to take to the platform to, not only campaign to the electorate,
but to also “attack” perceived opposition.
According to Internet data reports by a Singapore-based online portal, wearesocial.org, there are over six million Nigerian Facebook users and about a million users each of messaging services such as Twitter, BlackBerry Messenger and WhatsApp.
It is safe to say that parties and
politicians have devised the means to seek the electorate’s favour
through each of these media platforms ahead of the February general
elections.
With his more than 1,700,000 Facebook
followers, the Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate, Dr.
Goodluck Jonathan, is the first Nigerian President to use social media
to communicate with the citizens.
Apart from using the online platform to
tell Nigerians some of his achievements while in office, the President
has been using the medium to seek the electorate’s support.
Every Facebook post of the President attracts thousands of likes and comments from his supporters and the opposition.
His party, the PDP, has just a little above 60,000 followers on the Facebook and about 28,000 Twitter followers.
Likewise, a few days after Gen.
Muhammadu Buhari (retd) was elected to run against President Jonathan in
next month’s presidential election on the platform of the All
Progressives Congress, he too took the campaign for voters’ support to
the social media. In just few days after signing up on Twitter, the
former head of state has gained over 70,000 followers and also commands
about 100,000 followers on Facebook.
In addition to being accredited quickly
on Twitter, Buhari has also been a regular user of the service – using
it almost every day to seek the people’s support.
His party, the APC, with over 75,000
Twitter followers, has tweeted more than 8,000 times – seeking for the
electorate’s votes, while some of them are also geared towards
“attacking” the PDP.
For instance, the party had tweeted
during the week that, “How time flies, President GoodLuck Jonathan has
11,666,000 seconds left in Aso rock. Retweet if you agree.”
The tweet had more than 200 retweets and about 20 favourites.
The APC seems to be using the service more frequently than the PDP, which has less than 2,000 tweets.
Meanwhile, Buhari has said he would
create time to read through the comments and observations of his fans
via his Facebook page as he contests against President Jonathan in next
month’s election.
“I take note of every comment,
suggestion and feedback you give me. Please keep them coming. Thank you
for your support,” he wrote on Facebook.
The APC presidential candidate also said
he would work with all Nigerians irrespective of religious or ethnic
backgrounds to “help make our societies more compassionate, more just
and more equitable.”
Likewise, President Jonathan has also
been using the social media platform to say he would not renege on his
efforts aimed at making Nigeria a reference point in the comity of
nations.
He claimed that Nigeria was witnessing a
revolution in the railway sector, adding that his administration’s
desire to link the nation’s commercial and administrative capitals was
receiving global affirmation.
He wrote on his Facebook page recently,
“This forward march to progress will continue, with your cooperation,
until Nigeria’s infrastructure, be they roads, schools, airports or
hospitals, are listed as among the best in the world.
“And by God’s grace, this will happen in
the not too distant future. I will never let you down even as I promise
to build on the progress already made. May God bless you all and may He
also bless our Motherland, Nigeria. Forward Nigeria!”
Aside the two presidential contestants,
other officials, chieftains and contestants on the platforms of the two
major parties have been using the social media, especially Facebook and
Twitter, to seek the people’s support.
Some of the social media-friendly
politicians include Buhari’s running mate Yemi Osinbajo; former
Vice-President Atiku Abubakar; Kwara State Governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed;
APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; APC and PDP governorship
candidates in Lagos State, Akin Ambode and Jimi Agbaje respectively; the
Special Assistant to the President on New Media, Reno Omokri; and the
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin
Okupe, among others.
Voters are daily bombarded with messages and posts requesting for support in the general elections.
It is perhaps commendable to say that
the Independent National Electoral Commission, with a following of
160,000 on Twitter, has also been using the platform to inform and
educate the electorate on voting in next month’s elections.
Despite the new way the parties and
politicians have been campaigning through the social media, analysts
have said that its effectiveness has not been fully harnessed in
political campaigning in Nigeria.
This is because massive use of posters
and flyers, and in some cases employment of celebrities for television
adverts and artistes for radio jingles are still the order of the day.
Some parties and contestants have
totally ignored the Internet and social media in campaigning to the
Nigerian youths, who make up a large percentage of the country’s online
population.
Meanwhile, a research firm which focuses
on youth and participatory politics, MacArthur Network, reported that
young people who are engaged politically online are twice more likely to
vote than those who are not.
According to Information Technology
analysts, the 2008 and 2012 campaigns of the United States President
Barack Obama made history not only because he was the first
African-American to be elected a US President, but because he was the
first presidential candidate to effectively use the social media as a
major campaign strategy.
In the 2012 US presidential election, 30
per cent of online users reported that they were urged to vote via
social media by family, friends or other social network connections.
Twenty per cent posted their decision to vote for Obama online and 22 per cent posted their decisions when they voted.
This was also the case in the India 2014 elections where social media was pivotal in the victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
With these statistics, analysts are of the opinion that social media should be encouraged in political campaigning in Nigeria.
An Information Technology expert, Mr. Babawale Ojoye, told Saturday PUNCH that an effective social media campaign is based on the psychology of social behaviour and not the technology in itself.
Ojoye said social media is about people
and building relationships with them, which then allows a platform that
creates a behavioural pattern and makes it a viable tool in creating
awareness for a political brand.
And contrary to the feeling that social
media causes civic disengagement, statistics have shown that 66 per cent
of social media users actively engage in political activism online.
An IT analyst, Mr. Matthew Oladipo, also
said that the type of messages parties and politicians post on the
social media could either make or break unity among the electorate.
He said, “We have about 80 million
Nigerian youths, many of whom are users of social media. As the platform
can liberate, it can also break our unity. Politicians have to find a
way to make the social media foster unity in the country.
“They should learn not to post offensive or inciting statements because that is not what we need.
“In fact, I find it weird that these
parties majorly post to solicit for Nigerians’ support, without actually
telling us what they plan to do when they get elected except for a few
of them.
“I believe it is time for political
aspirants, in Nigeria, to really understood the importance of social
media to their campaign successes.”
Oladipo, however, commended the adaptation of Nigerian politicians to the global trend.
He said that the platform allowed
politicians to communicate faster and reach citizens in a more targeted
manner, and vice versa, without the intermediate role of the mass media,
while stating other benefits.
Through the platform, reactions,
feedback, conversations and debates are generated online as well as
support and participation for offline events.
Messages posted to personal networks are multiplied when shared, which allow new audiences to be reached.
Also, the social media has reshaped
structures and methods of contemporary political communication by
influencing the way politicians interact with citizens and each other.
In addition, he advised every politician
and party to learn to use the social media because the reach is huge,
as it appeals more to the youths who prefer it as tool for engagement.
Oladipo concluded that the winners in
next month’s general elections are the contestants who have found the
means of reaching to the soul of the electorate through the social
media, among other engagement means.
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