THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN VOTER’S MOBILIZATION IN NIGERIA’S 2023 GENERAL ELECTIONS'

Abstract

The 2023 Nigeria general elections have presented to scholars, analysts and observers with several issues, dynamics and developments to digest. Arguably, top among the issues is the
power/influence ofsocial media in the process of voter’s mobilization. Social media has continued to break many age-old social barriers, and at the same time building bridges for the consolidation of intra and  inter group relationship and consciousness. Nothing could have  amplified this development better than the2023 general elections in  Nigeria. The 2023 general elections in Nigeria witnessed a huge engagement of the people in pre-election, during election and postelection periods, which heightened tensions and created serious uncertainty in the outcome of the elections. Prior to the 2023 general elections, a lot of Nigerians appeared to have lost interest in the electoral process, yet there appeared to be level of engagement in the electoral process by the citizens especially throughthe social media. Although, some other factors may have accounted for the level of voter’s mobilization witnessed in the 2023 general elections, the role of social media deserved a systematic evaluation. Hence, this paper examines the role of social media in voter’s mobilization in Nigeria’s 2023 general elections. This paper will be anchored on the theory of cognitive mobilization as propounded by Russell Dalton in 1984 as it
theoretical framework of analysis. Qualitative research design will be adopted, and through the use of secondary sources, relevant data relating to the objectives of the paper will be generated, and analyzed using content analysis method. The paper found that social media was very instrumental to mobilizing the youth population in Nigeria to participate in the electoral process.
Thus, the paper recommends an improved use of social media by candidates for political offices and political officeholder in communicating with the people as it provides for effective and efficient connection between them and the people.