Social Media and Its Impact in Politics

 

By Odogwu Akin

Some people said that social media cannot win an election for a political candidate. It is erroneous to make such a statement because social media won the last election in Nigeria. So many candidates people thought they would never get a single vote to win the election surprised everybody. 

Social media may not be a polling place but it affects the choice of candidate to vote for.

Social media have a positive impact on politics because it is a free platform for sharing information, a tool of freedom and empowerment, and a door to equality. Social media is an immediate free platform for sharing information between voters and politicians. But in Africa, especially Nigerian people neglect the impact of social media on politics because of bribery and corruption that have eaten deep into the bone marrow of the average Nigerian. Some Nigerians sell their votes for a peanut given to them by politicians. 

Nigeria has one of the youngest populations in the world. Nigeria has a population of over 216.7 million people with over 75% of them being younger people, with over 43 million people using social media networks. 

Social media has changed the politics of the 21st century. It has more effect on the lives of younger generations.

Social media platform such as Twitter, WhatsApp, Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, etc allows candidates to expose their values and beliefs. Voters can also access the credibility, competency, and qualifications of the candidates through the same medium. With the use of social media, candidates can share photos, manifestos, and videos of their achievements so far while in government or private sector, and voters can access them with what is on the ground.

Malcolm X said, "The media are the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent. The media have the power to promote and demote individuals, the media have the power to control the minds of the masses."

Recall the impact of social media on the *END SARS PROTEST IN NIGERIA 2020.* We saw millions of Nigerian youths come out en masse to protest against the brutality of the Nigeria Police unit known as *SARS.*

Do you know why it was effective?

Do you know what made it possible to connect youths from the States of the Federation? 

It was the power of social media. Ordinarily, it couldn't have held water without social media that was used in controlling the minds of the youths showing the pictures and video footage of the brutalities done by the SARS operatives.

Through the use of social media, awareness of PVC registration was effective. So many youths saw the need to why they must register and collect their PVCs with the videos, photos, files, and articles shared on social media platforms.

To elaborate more, social media was developed to link people to the world and is an effortlessly convenient communication method. Due to this, people can get in touch with just about anyone from all over the world and it no doubt has an incredible amount of influence on our lives. However, not all of it may be positive.

Almost everyone is aware of how social media impacts us on a micro scale, but what about the influence it has on a macro level? Interestingly enough, it has taken a tremendous toll on politics. Thanks to social media, access to information from all over the world has become easy. Because of the developments that social media has reached, it is no longer necessary for us to rely on receiving information from second-hand sources. We are now able to access the main source of the news ourselves such as an eyewitness or video footage of the event. This can certify that the information we receive is reliable considering that many secondary news sources tend to be politically biased. 

Permit me to make a recommendation on the use of social media in Nigeria's elections. Many changes likely are to come about shortly in social media and its influence on politics. Proposals on the concept of Internet voting should be made known to Nigerian lawmakers, this will be able to lead to greater levels of participation in elections. This could make social media increase its influence in the political world, as people will be able to place their votes within minutes irrespective of their locations.

A New Enugu West senatorial position was possible with RG because of the use of social media. The Youth O'clock movement for RG took advantage of social media and used it positively to promote, support, and encourage voting participation. The people of Enugu West voted massively for Senator Osita Ngwu because of the awareness created through the use of social media. 

 According to statistics, youths in Nigeria from the ages of 18-50 years contribute 70% of votes that elected political leaders. If we have this kind of voting power, why can't we use it to retire those political ancestors who have drained Nigeria's economy? 2027 is almost around the corner, let us get it right this time just like the way we got it right in Enugu state and Enugu West senatorial district respectively.