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 General Election
in Obubra Local Government of Cross Rivers state. The research therefore
examines Social Media as Agenda Setters in the 2015 General Election in Nigeria
(A case of social media usage by electorate in Obubra). Cross sectional survey
research method was adopted in which data were collected among residents in Obubra
L.G 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. It is also
established that through social media, citizens in Obubra L. G set agenda on
different political matters, demonstrated high online debates and supports for
political parties of interest. 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.
