THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIAL MEDIA AND ELECTORAL VIOLENCE IN KOGI STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The role of social media in modern day politics since Barack Obama explored it to navigate his way into the White House in 2008 cannot be overemphasised. With Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Youtube and Instagram now on the palms and laps of both politicians and electorates on most parts of the globe, traditional and mainstream media no more dictate the outcome of polls as it was in the past. Just as everyone is now content creator, so too those with access to the internet are potential message receivers. The impact of the social media on electoral politics has since moved beyond the United States to even the remotest part of the world with its negativities being adjudged to be on a very high side. With the introduction of the General System for Mobile communications (GSM) in Nigeria, many Nigerians joined the world in engaging the various social media tools for socio-political and economic benefits. This paper attempts unravel how social media have been used to perpetrate and exacerbate electoral violence in Kogi State, Nigeria. The study, through the use of desktop analysis employs resource mobilisation and gate-keeping media theories as a guiding compass. It was discovered at the end that electoral violence has heightened in Kogi State with the use of the various social
media tools exemplified earlier. The said violence is being instigated and aggravated through: electoral irregularities, fake news, hate speech, phishing attacks, cyber-bullying and their likes. It is on this note recommended that concerned stakeholders in the electoral process such as the Electoral Management Body, Government and Civil Society should step-up efforts which discourage the use of social media as a tool for perpetrating electoral violence in Kogi State and Nigeria at large.