CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
This study examines public assessment on the impaction of social media on political participation in Nigeria during the campaign of the 2023 presidential election. The intention of this study is based on the disruption of Nigeria electoral engineering from the usual two horse game to the inclusion of the third force. The appearance of the Labour Party in the political landmark in the 2023 build for the presidential election cannot be overemphasized. Essentially, one of the focal point of this study is how social media contributed to the success of the inclusion of the third force called the Obedient Movement in the political averment from 2022 when Mr. Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate. This contributed to the large extent social media was adopted as a platform for election campaign and participation. By participating in politics through offline or online, the people demonstrate to a large extent their political readiness to decide on who lead them. In Nigeria political environment, physical political activities such as civil protests and campaigns by minority parties are restricted by the government of the day. Based on the influence of social media, one can critically look at the extent to which social media affected political participation during the build up to 2023 general election.
Political participation is a key element of democratic principles and practices. It requires the engagement of eligible voters in a particular country who may or may not belong to any political party. According to Olaniru, Olusoji, Olusola & Olugbenga (2020), citizens’ participation in the political process is an important element of a democratic political culture. The participation of members of a political community is usually influenced by the political information, attitudes, feelings and skills they possessed. Political engagement, often also referred to as political participation, is understood as “actions or activities by ordinary citizens that in some way are directed toward influencing political outcomes in society.
Social media have gained prominence in the Nigeria political environment thereby decreasing political apathy. No doubt that social media has significant increase the number of people who actively participate in the politics either as contestants, supporters and electorates, (Dunu, 2018). To achieve this, it is important that social media has many public communication features such text, video, ad, feedback, viral button among others. According to Hassan (2023), social media is increasingly influential in the political realm, as evidenced by the fact that more politicians are investing more in social media as part of their election campaign than ever before. It is, more than ever, shaping the coverage of the campaigns of mainstream media, with social media influencers having an outsized role in setting the agenda.
Social media usage for political discussion contributes to political participation in Nigerians used social media during 2019 elections and these offered politicians the opportunities to tap into on-line campaigning. According to Olowokere and Audu-Bako (2019), during the 2019 general elections, many politicians, particularly the presidential aspirants, used social media tools to connect with voters and their constituents, thereby increasing public participation in politics. Presidential aspirants like Atiku Abubakar, Tony Moghalu, Oby Ezekwesili, Sola Sowore, among others all had Twitter and other social media accounts. Political parties also maintained Facebook accounts. Social media offered politicians and their parties the opportunity to broadcast messages and recruit a huge number of volunteers to support their campaign. Nigerian civil society and the electorates took up social media as a tool for improving the efficiency of election observation. Prior to the conduct of the 2019 elections, elections in Nigeria had been largely flawed by vote rigging and other electoral malpractices. Olowokere1 and Audu-Bako (2019) stated that the 2019 general elections offered a unique context and opportunity to examine the use of social media in elections, especially the usefulness and applicability of social media in the electoral environment. It is pertinent to understand specifically how particular stakeholders in the 2019 elections, like INEC, politicians/political parties, the electorate, and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) used the social media during the elections and the impacts these had on the elections.
In the 2019 elections, both Atiku and Buhari adopted extensively the use of social media to create political aspiration to the public. For the Atiku campaign movement, Atikulated Youth Force, and Buhari Media Centre (BMC) dominated the online discourse. The APC presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, with his supporters identified as being ‘BATified’.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Social media have been seen as a platform for political participation. People easily gain access to social media and they are privilege to post issues relating to politics as well as declaring their political status. However, there are many cases of political character assassination, fake political news, discrimination, intimidation, privacy invasion and propaganda. These issues have discouraged many social media users from participating in politics as they think that social media politics are not censored. According Dunu (2018), in recent anecdotal evidence point to other emerging developments in ways the social media may have been used recently in Nigerian political election process especially in the build up for the 2023 presidential election where the Candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi supporters are dominate the social media thereby using the various platforms of the social media to engagement in politics. However, many people hold the view that social media political participation is not a serious political engagement that will be considered to be regarded as means of political participation. Another view about social media impact on political participation is that it has so many fake about that cannot be verified as such users are just political ghost. These and other pitfalls of the social media impact on political participation have not been addressed within the Nigeria political environment in recent times due to the nonchalant attitude of politicians towards social media influence on politics. It is on this background that this study seeks to close these gap with specific objectives.
1.3 Objectives of the Study
The main objective of the study is on public assessment on the impact of social media on political participation for 2023 election: A study of Abraka Delta State. To achieve this, three specific objectives were formulated to guide this study.
- To establish access to political campaign messages among residents of Abraka, Delta State.
- To determine the impact of social media on political campaign of 2023 general election among residents of Abraka, Delta State
- To determine the how social media was used for political discussion of the 2023 election by residents of Abraka Delta State.
1.4 Research Questions
The followings are the objectives of the study.
- What access to political campaign messages did residents of Abraka, Delta State have?
- What is the impact of social media on political campaign of 2023 general election among residents of Abraka, Delta State?
- How was social media used for political discussion by residents of Abraka, Delta State during 2023 election?
1.5 Significance of the Study
There has been need to research on this topic because of the new dimension of social media usage in all aspect of life including politics. Many scholars has rule out political function of the social media because of the radio and television. So this study is to reveal the gap that exist as well as provide resolution adopted in recent time to close the gap using social media use in political participation.
The study will determine whether social media impact political participation among people in Nigeria, ascertain the extent to which social media impact political participation among students, determine the relationship between social media and political participation and ascertain whether social media have help students in social media in political participation. The findings from this study will provide scholars with knowledge for further research. Also, it will be guiding principles to students and politician and other related profession.
1.6 Scope of the Study
The study covers residents of Abraka, Delta State. The coverage will be restricted to major clusters in the community which are Urhoka, Uruovie, Ajalomi, Oria, Eroh, PO. The population in Abraka is a mixed population of students and non students. Therefore, the students will be adopted in the study to give a definite judgment of Abraka. The scope covers January 2022 to February, 2023 which covers a period of 13 months.
1.7 Definition of Terms
Political Participation: This is the involvement of citizens in the political activities of a state before, during and after electoral process and exercises.
Social Media: This means social networking site design to create flow of information among users in their social quest. These include but not limited to facebook, whatsapp, instagram, twitter e.t.c.
Election: This is the process of electing new political office hold through voting be the electorate. It is conducted by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Impact: This is the art at which a variable affect another variable in cause a change of outcome.
Public Assessment: This is the level of evaluation given by the public on a particular event, person and phenomena especially politics and governance.
Public: This is generally member of the society who is heterogeneous in nature.
Public Assessment: This is a mechanism for which member of the public are given opportunities to evaluate and analyse some public interest discussion.
Presidential Election: This is a type of general election in a democratic government where the public are empowered by the constitution to vote for candidates vying the post of president.
