ABSTRACT
The
emergency and rising of social media otherwise known as citizen media in this
digital era have revolutionalised the socio- economic and particularly
political development of Nigeria. It offers platform for political debates,
political campaign and political mobilization especially in the 2015
gubernatorial election in Kwara state. The research therefore examines the
influence of social media on choice of candidate in the 2015 gubernatorial
election (A case study of Kwara State). Cross sectional survey research method
was adopted in which data were collected among residents in Ilorin Metropolis
using questionnaire as a data collection instrument. Two hundred (200) copies
of questionnaires were distributed, out of which, one hundred and ninety two
(192) copies were retrieved and analysed. Findings show that many of the
respondents participated in the 2015 election while they also search and
participated in political debate and discussions on social media before, during
and after the election with many served as voters during the 2015 elections. In
the same vein, social networking usage during the election was very high for
the first time in Nigeria political history, no wonder many submitted that
their participation in the election was as a result of the online discussion
platform such as facebook and twitters. Similarly, lots of respondents were
busy reading and commenting on political matters during the 2015 electioneering
period. It was recommended that social media should be improved to enhance
better public mobilization, sensitization and true democracy in Nigeria through
citizen sensitization programmes rather than hate words, name calling and
posting of unverified information or result during election.
