NEW MEDIA AND ELECTIONS IN NIGERIA’S FOURTH REPUBLIC
Fadeyi, Taofiq James & Abdulrahman Adamu
Department of Political Science
Federal University Gusau, Nigeria
Email: fiqfad6@gmail.com & abduladamu6@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
The rising profile of the use of internet across the globe in the 21st century has made many to be aware of the global development towards the new media. This upsurge without doubt, has become potent instrument for deepening democratic values and processes in terms of information dissemination, evaluation and monitoring of electioneering processes in Africa in particular and the world at large. This paper therefore, explores the extent of improvement in the conduct of elections in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic essentially the 2015 and 2019 with the emergence of new media as the primary means by which people create a public sphere where they communicate and form public opinion. The paper reveals that the new media triggered a revival of the watchdog function of the media and paved the way for it to act as a Fourth Estate in monitoring electioneering processes. It reveals further that the various networking platforms of the new media had created a multiple forumwhere live discussions/debates take place on many issues still considered off limits to traditional media. The study relies on secondary sources of data through the use of websites (online) news portals.
Keywords: New Media, Elections, Democracy, Fourth Republic
