Elections and Electioneering Campaigns in Nigeria

Elections in Nigeria just like in every other democracy in the world feature a time frame before the polls for solicitation of votes. This time frame in Nigeria does not start outside the last 90 days to the election day. This is the period that is often referred to as the period of electioneering campaigns.

This period is meant chiefly for self advertisement by the political office seekers and their political parties. They do this using various platforms allowed by law. These include the following: 

1.      Radio: Politicians key into the ubiquity of radio sets in households to sell their high sides to the electorates. They run jingles and advertisements; pay for special news coverage of their activities; and write special commentaries highlighting their manifestoes. More often than not, radio programme anchors invite these politicians as a guest in their programmes. Many a time too, such programmes are audience participatory, i.e. They allow the listeners to call in via the telephone or any other means of telecommunication to ask the guest in the studio questions. Questions born out of malice are quickly disqualified by the moderator. As we said earlier, political parties also write commentaries which are read by radio stations. In Nigeria, at the end of every national network news at 7 am, 4 pm and 10 pm everyday, Radio Nigeria treats the listeners to a well written commentary. But you might be surprised that at times, instead of the commentaries they would read what they call a “spotlight.” The spotlight simply means a paid commentary such as that of the politicians and political parties.

2.    Television: Many people use television in Nigeria but MOST don’t. The state of Nigeria’s power generation still leaves more to be desired so that television set is a luxury many people in Nigeria can’t afford. Nevertheless, it is another medium through which political office seekers and political parties sell their programmes and manifestoes to the public. Needless to say is that unlike the radio that sends only the sound, television sets send both sounds and pictures.

3.    Posters and Billboards: This is another medium of political campaigns in Nigeria. Party logos and political office aspirants are printed in various shapes and sizes calling on the electorates to vote for them. Posters with these types of prints are pasted all over the town; most times indiscriminately. Careless party loyalists and mercenaries that paste those posters mess streets up with the cacophonic garish colours of variegated political posters. Local officials who could have clamped the ugly trend are also guilty of the same offence in their bids to get reelected. Billboards are larger in size and more decent because of the procedure that must be followed in order to get approval to siting them. Many billboards in Nigeria today are electronic. This makes it possible to show multiple slides of adverts thereby reducing the number of non electronic billboards.

4.    Internet: This category includes the social media, news sites and other types of websites. Due to the forthcoming 2015 General Election, hardly can anyone browsing with Nigeria IP will not see adverts by Google or by other ad companies showing Goodluck Jonathan, Buhari or other political office seekers’ ad placements.

5.      Campaign Rallies: This is another medium of getting across the electorates cap in hand, begging for votes. Political parties organize rallies one after the other in all the strategic parts of the country. In such a rally, large number of crowds both solicited and the unsolicited gather in solidarity to an aspirant or a political party.  Political parties and their candidates for an office use this type of forum to convince electorates to vote in their favour. They make promises and present manifestoes of what they will do for the people if they get elected.

The Influence of Electioneering Campaigns on Elections

Ideally, there suppose to be a correlation between electioneering campaigns and elections in Nigeria just like in any other democratic countries of the world. Elections in Nigeria should have been the verdict on all the political parties’ campaigns. It should have been the voice of the people pronouncing the party or the candidate which or whose promise mostly appealed to them. Alas! This is not the case. What determines electoral victory in the country as at the time of writing this piece is something very unorthodox. Elections in Nigeria generally allow the hoi polloi to have their say while the high and mighty has their way. A friend of mine was blunt about it when he said that after elections in Nigeria, the “best rigger,” emerges the winner. This singular condition has dissuaded many from exercising their voting power which at the face of this ugly trend, they consider powerless. Others who try at all to vote do that quid pro quo. They ask for money or any other items of value before they vote for you. Their argument was understandable – votes don’t count and winners don’t fulfill their campaign promises. Given these facts, these gold diggers seize the rare opportunity to take a bite on the juicy apple of the commonwealth. This is what is today known as the stomach infrastructure in Nigeria.

Stomach Infrastructure

This is a new entrant into the country’s political lexicon. The ideal is that government should build infrastructures for the overall development of the country but they are not doing it. Election period according to the crop of gold diggers discussed above is the only opportunity to getting government to build infrastructures; but this time, it is built in the stomachs! 

Healing the Cancers

Elections and electioneering campaigns in Nigeria are battling with cancers not only of those briefly discussed above. Other cancers of ethnicity, religious intolerance, thuggery and violence are equally malignant. Arresting the ugly trend requires the input of all and sundry but by and large, government should be responsible.  When the head is rotten, the tail follows. The judiciary should ensure expeditious adjudication of cases on election. Electoral law offenders should be punished severely and if possible, let electoral offence have a capital punishment. Adopting this capital punishment recommendation with a strict adherence to it will deter election riggers, gold diggers and their likes from their nefarious activities. And Nigeria being freed from their claws will soar like eagle and will take her pride of place not only in Africa as the giant of Africa but also among the comity of Nations.