No doubt, the Social Media as a communication model is
a phenomenon that can never be denied considering its infinite usage all over
the globe. Its usage in African states is increasing at an alarming rate,
particularly in the areas of politics and process of democratisation. The New
Media or Social Media have proven beyond doubt that they have the capacity to
trigger over-communication, not only as a push media but also as pull media
particularly within the frameworks of its strong interactivity attributes. It
is evident that both traditional and New Media offer opportunities for
political interrogation, nonetheless, in Nigeria Internet use and penetration
in the political engineering processes is drastically increasing. Reportedly,
by June 2012, there were about 48 millions of Internet users in Nigeria.
Internet World Stats credited Nigeria with a total of 45 percent of Africa’s
Internet users by December 31, 2011.
In January 2011 when President Goodluck Jonathan
removed the Fuel Subsidy, which led to increase in fuel prices, the agitated
political reactions that greeted this government policy became accentuated through
the aggressive political advocacy that characterised the mainstreams Social
Media sites such as the twitter and facebook.
In Nigeria, not long ago, the use of the Social Media
for political reporting during the Osun State Governorship Election was overwhelming
and phenomenal. Likewise, the campaigns of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and President
Goodluck Jonathan for 2015 Presidential Election are aggressively exploring the
use of the Social Media platforms.
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