Note: This is an on-going work
Introduction
Background:
“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.”[1]
Fred Omu, a
pre-eminent historian of the Nigerian Press states that: ‘Beginning with the emergence of the West African Pilot in 1937, the media has played a pivotal role
in promoting political awareness, moulding public opinion and accentuating
democratisation in Nigeria.’[2] A
plethora study of the political history of Nigeria had clearly established the
anti-colonial roles the media, particularly the print media played. Thus, the
media was an established force in the nationalistic struggle for the attainment
of political independence of Nigeria from Britain.[3] In
a nutshell, the media are not the holders of power, but they constitute by and
large the space where power is decided. Reuben Abati puts it this way:
“At every moment in Nigeria history, the press has been in the
forefront, manning the barricades. The centrality to the issues of the day and
lives of the people has brought the Nigerian press much travail. From colonial
times, it has been treated as a major tool of power. Opposing power centers
which feel threaten by its dynamism invariably seek to control the press
through several means in which politicians latter result to misuse of mass
media to achieve their selfish desire”[4].
Whereas, politics is dependent on media
politics and media politics leads to the struggle over the minds of the masses.
Arguably, traditional media has not been able to adequately increased mass
participation of citizens in the democratic processes as it is obtainable today
in this era of globalisation and proliferation of Information and Communication
Technologies (ICTs). Put differently, traditional media has not pushed forward
democratisation in Nigeria. This was the position of Adesoji when he says:
“The response of the Nigerian Press to the challenges
of democratisation has not been adequate. This could be due to the fact that
the Nigerian Press has not taken full advantage of the benefits of
Globalisation to information dissemination. The implication therefore is that
many challenges have either not been met at all or not properly met. While the
Nigerian press could be excused on the ground that it is still globalising, it
is pertinent to say that there is the need for it to quicken its pace so that
it can catch up with the novel developments characteristic of the globalised
world. This will no doubt enhance its ability to cope with the growing
challenges of democratisation and other developments in the world.”[5]
Markedly, as an
additional and alternative tool to the traditional media, the Social Media
within the contexts of globalisation has aided the globalisation process of the
Nigeria’s traditional media. Social media as a phenomenon has transformed the
interaction and communication of individuals throughout the world. Social Media
has become ubiquitous and important for social networking and content sharing,
particularly in the political milieu. It
continues to be a great platform for democratic conversations and political
events, thereby facilitating and accentuating participatory democracy in
Nigeria. Politically, as it is obtainable in other public spheres of life,
social media has the power to influence millions of people. The Social Media is
at an alarming rate becoming a veritable campaign network against corporate
malfeasances, governmental fiscal recklessness, political laxity and other
forms of endemic corruption.
Meanwhile, it is
evident that starting with the February 1999 election which led to the
emergence of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo as the president, Nigeria was ushered in
into new thresholds of democratisation. The proliferation of democratic
institutions, the emancipation of political landscapes, the constancy &
creditability of elections hitherto unheard of, particularly the acceptability
of defeat by an incumbent president in Nigeria in 2015, have all signalled that
a thrust towards democratic consolidation is evident and on a quantum increase
in Nigeria.[6]
Recent elections
in Nigeria served as the best examples of the affirmative affects that social
media platforms can have. In 2011 and 2015, during the voters’ registration and
elections, Nigerians on Twitter, Facebook and other Social Media platforms
actively participated in the political engineering and electioneering. Oser,
Hooghe, and Marien opine that the use of social media is accentuating
participatory democracy[7] and this is more apparent among all stakeholders (the
electorates, politicians, policy makers, government officials, civil societies,
etc) and its roles in ensuring political accountability will certainly
continue; because, more Nigerians are having more access to the Internet, the
Social Media and mobile phones. As a matter of fact, more Nigerians are
accessing the Internet and Social Media via their mobile phones. And for
instance, 80% of Internet use in Nigeria is via mobile phone. About 48 millions
of Nigerians are on the Social Media. Recent report shows that Africa is
currently the second largest mobile phone market after Asia, with more than 700
million mobile connections and no doubt, Nigeria has the chunk of this
percentage.
One thing that is certain is the fact that the
underlying impact of social media platforms cannot be denied because they are
revolutionising the political cosmology of Nigeria. Social media has thus far
had numerous implications for both Nigerian leaders and the electorates. It’s
no longer news that during the processes that culminated into the 2015 General
Election in Nigeria the social media played a critical part in allowing
political actions to be organized through the social networks of people with
shared interest in democracy and common desires for liberty and arguably, fast
track the democratisation process that culminated into the emergence of the
‘Opposition Party’ (All Progressives Congress) as the ‘Ruling Party’.
Statement of the Research Problems/Questions
Extant
literature had captured the roles played by the traditional media (newspaper,
television, and radio) in promoting democratisation in Nigeria. With
globalisation coupled with advancement in ICT and the proliferation of the
social media and social network sites which was ushered in with the
transduction from web 1.0 to web 2.0; and apparently with the integration of
the traditional media with web 2.0 technologies (since most dominant
traditional media in today’s Nigeria now have online presence); it has been
argued that the social media is aggressively accentuating political
participation and democratisation in Nigeria. Though, the roles and the nuances
of the social media within the framework of Nigeria’s democratic experience
between 1999 and the 2015 General Election had been interrogated, yet, it has
been argued against the suggestion that social media contributed to the defeat
of the incumbent president during the 2015 General Election in Nigeria. Therefore,
attempts are hereby be made in the paper to consider, interrogate and
scrutinise this claim within the framework of the Manuel Castells’ theory of
power and counter-power.
The major research questions which guide this study
and to which it provides answers include: First, how social media was used to
increase political participation/engagements (citizens’ participation in
democracy) vis-à-vis voters’ registration and election results monitoring?
Second, did online monitory of elections and online reporting of elections
results play any roles in ensuring fair and free election during the 2015
General Elections of Nigeria? Third, how media politics, power and counter
power played out on the social media and did they contribute to regime change
in Nigeria in 2015?
[1] Odoemelam, C.
C. and Adibe, K.N, ‘Political Conflicts And Political Communication in Africa:
An Analysis of Social Media Role’, Paper presented at the ACCE, Covenant
University, Ota, 2011
[2] Fred I.A. Omu, Press and Politics in Nigeria,
1880-1937, London: Longman, 1978, pp. 204-240 as cited in Adesoji ,
Abimbola O. ‘Globalization of the media and the challenges of Democratisation in
Nigeria,’ Nebula,
2006
[3] Adesoji , Abimbola O. ‘Globalization of the media and
the challenges of Democratisation in Nigeria,’ Nebula, 2006
[4] Reuben Abati, “Democratic struggle, freedom of expression
and the Press in Nigeria” Paper presented at the Human Rights Second
National Conference, Kano, Nigeria, 1998
[5] Adesoji, Abimbola O., ‘Globalization of the media and
the challenges of Democratisation in Nigeria,’ Nebula, . 2006
[6]
SMB Johnson, ‘Unstoppable March of Social Media and Democratisation’, http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/2015/09/unstoppable-march-of-social-mediaand-democratisation/, September
15, 2015 2:40 am
[7] Oser, Jennifer,
Marc Hooghe, and Sofie Marien, “Is Online Participation Distinct from Offline
Participation? A Latent Class Analysis of Participation Types and Their
Stratification.” Political Research Quarterly 66 (1), 2013, 91–101 as
cited in Christa Odinga, ‘Use of New
Media during the Kenya Elections’,
Master’s Thesis submitted to the Department of Informatics and Media at
Uppsala University, in June 2013
