By ‘Sola Fagorusi
As we approach the February 14th 2015 date of Nigeria’s crucial presidential election, there is a guarded meltdown happening on social media. If words could draw blood, the street of Twitter will be a river of blood. Facebook would be a valley of bones. Stones are hurled with words; swords are drawn with hashtags; graphic illustrations are breastplates of defence and animations cum videos are being released as arrows. Cold vituperations are being poured on one another by party supporters. Dirt is being dug up in immeasurable proportion. Information that credible media houses, irrespective of political bias, will never allow in public sphere are unleashed in 140 characters and less. If we claim the polity is being heated up, the ‘credit’ should apparently go to users in social media space! Instagram has not been left out of this shade of campaign. Creativity and wits are being mixed with mischief and unleashed in mostly edited picture form on instagram and left on the corridors of blackberry messenger, Whatsapp and other instant messaging application.
While this happens, the political cognoscenti on these spaces are also vigorously engaging with the issues in mostly two camps. Two camps because that is what the campaign has been reduced to on the presidential plain. Barring any major political earthquake in Nigeria, majority of Nigerians believe that the presidential election is a straight political battle between Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and Gen. Mohammadu Buhari (Rtd.). While the former represents the People Democratic Party, the latter is of the All Progressive Congress. That said, social media is also being used to canvass for votes through different methods; bold and subtle. At the core of their campaigns is the war chest which each candidate seems to have amassed. It has the capacity to determine how far and well the candidates can reach the electorate. Jonathan set the tone with the N21.27 billion donation he raised at the launch of his campaign last month.
Last month, Buhari also revealed that he had received 54,415.70 million naira mostly through small donations from ordinary people. He claimed to have modelled his after Barrack Obama’s prototype. This is, in addition to his crowd sourcing method made possibly through an authorised account of a first generation bank that has become pretty popular on social media. This is a first of sort in Nigeria, especially if the report of massive sales of the donation recharge cards is true. If data are kept and thoroughly processed after the election then Nigerians without dizzying financial resources but huge social capital will find a model they can review and duplicate in terms of political funding.
It is commendable that the incumbent is also leaving no stone unturned. His achievements are also being highlighted on social media and his social media team have been using every means possible to pitch to Nigerians why he deserves another four years in office. Pictures of his achievements are posted. www.factschecki.ng is also a cerebral response to all issues undecided voters will love clarified about the candidature of Buhari. The Wikipedia feel it has gives it strength. There is also www.forwardnigeria.ng from the camp of Jonathan and they are armed with their own narrative.
If Buhari’s approach is carefully studied by his team, it may give a feedback on the potential number of votes they can garner. Donating to a campaign is a loud statement of one belief’s in the candidate. The only challenge in this computation is that not all who donate will vote. The Independent National Electoral Commission’s recent revelation that only 38,774,391 Nigerians have collected their voter card is a proof to the difficulty of such calculation. The commission still expects 15,567,219 Nigerians to come forward and retrieve their Permanent Voter Card. Also key is the amount of funds they will raise from Nigerians in the diaspora who are automatically disenfranchised.
INEC is looking the other way with regards to the N21.27 billion raised by President Jonathan. This is clearly against the amount Section 91, sub section 2 of the Electoral Act 2010 says should be incurred by a candidate for presidential election. Perhaps INEC is doing this in view of the reality that N1 billion naira is inadequate for such campaign. Perhaps Not.
The social media drama between the two parties also makes one ask: where are the other political parties? What are they doing, online and offline? Other parties may need to look at crowd funding. In 1885, Joseph Pulitzer used it for the first time to raise funds for New York to complete the Statue of Liberty. It has been used extensively in campaign. Today, with the power of online media, it can be used to raise funds and campaign to the electorate in one single breath.
Until recently, the United States also had a history of only wealthy individuals donating to campaigns, within what the law permitted. Obama’s use of his website to crowd source $750 million from small donors in 2008 and $631 million in 2012 changed that dynamics. Adverts are no longer left only on massive bill boards alone but on online platforms as well. Fund raising is no longer for the money bags but what ordinary citizens can do with a click. www.indiegogo.com, www.fundly.com, www.rally.org are examples of popular crowd sourcing platforms that have put smiles on faces of some politicians.
The use of SMS short codes can also get massive contributions for a political campaign in a place like Nigeria. It must be simple, cheap and easy to use. Text ‘DONATE to 223’ for example is easy. And it is cheap if it costs only N100 for instance. While social media strategies are lovely, Nigeria’s political terrain still needs door-to-door engagement. This is where, a vice presidential aspirant, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo’s street campaign approach beats other efforts, especially since it is a rarity. This election draws excited interest because until the vote is counted in a free and fair manner, no party can confidently say it will win.
New media technology will continue to open the space especially to political underdogs ? political underdogs who may not have so much cash to campaign. New media is also opening the doors to funding possibilities. A look at internet penetration in Nigeria, the high cost of data, may dissuade potential donors and voters, but with as we draw closer to the elections, we see the possibilities. Maybe Nigeria’s 2019 election will be more focused online than offline. Maybe then, social media popularity may win candidates an election. Maybe then, INEC will be looking more frankly at the possibilities of online voter’s registration. Maybe then, we will embrace the possibilities of online voting. Or maybe I am simply dreaming?
@SolaFagro on twitter
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
‘Sola Fagorusi is a social entrepreneur and a prized freelance writer with a bias for youth and rural development. He started off as a youth staff with Action Health Incorporated in 2001. The Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife alumnus currently manages the programmes of OneLife Initiative, Nigeria. ‘Sola is a DESPLAY Africa (Africa’s foremost and most consistent annual youth democracy academy) fellow and has been on its faculty since 2011. Keenly interested in governance and pan-Africanism, he volunteers as online editor of YouthHub Africa; a cyber-community for young Africans involved in social change. He believes in the efficacy of oratory and writing as tools to drive developmental engagements. As a freelance writer, he spares time to pen thoughts on contemporary societal issues and is a weekly columnist with Nigeria’s most read daily ? Punch Newspaper. His training and capacity cuts across democracy and governance, leadership, micro-enterprise, ICT4D, SRH, value chains, development communication and policy issues. He tweets @SolaFagro and blogs at www.kadunaboy.com
