Digital Voices, Political Games: Retweets, Revolts, and Rigged Narratives

We all know the power of social media, and if you don't, let me use a simple statement to define it: Social media can take you and your message to different places without moving an inch from where the message was made.

It is no longer a secret that many atrocities committed by greedy politicians have been exposed by social media. There are numerous public funds we remain unaware of that have been embezzled, and this information reached the public through social media.

In the same way people use social media for good, people also use it for their own evil agenda. I will be using two case studies in Nigeria as an example.

Case 1: The 2015 General Election in Nigeria.

Allegedly, before the election, we saw how the opposing party to the former president, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, could come up with different crimes committed by the president and show the world how incompetent he was, even though they were the ones who destroyed his peaceful government. The killing in the north, the attack by the terrorist group, and many other bad things were always shared on social media, which made many people believe that he wasn't a competent governor.

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It was this same social media that brought the praise of the opposing party, crowning him the messiah who would save Nigerian citizens from the hardship they are facing. Many people believed the incoming president of that year was going to do great because most of his past achievements were all over social media.

This is how politicians use social media: they present themselves as good and portray others as bad. This is why it is difficult to find any news with truth in it regarding politicians and their games.

Case 2: 2020 Nigeria Protest

The 2020 Nigeria protest opened a lot of people's eyes when it came to governance and this birthed the Gen Z and Soro Soke movement. During this protest, a lot of people got encouraged to get their voter cards in an attempt to stop bad leaders from attaining powers they would only use to their own advantage.

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The 2020 protest was all over every social media platform, and it served as a sensitization for all youth for them to wake up and take the power back into their hands.

A lot of education on what to do before voting, things to avoid, how to vote, and so on was published on different social media, and it was an eye-opener to many people. It was that same year that had the highest number of people who registered for their voter cards and were willing to come out to vote.

If I could change anything about this, the only thing I would love to change is the fake news circulation on social media. Be it for political reasons or not. Nigeria is a land of numerous indigenous peoples, and this has caused so many divisions amongst ourselves.

During elections, people, we would see how politicians use influencers to change the minds of people either religiously or tribalistically. It has happened many times, and I hope we grow past this same trick and deceit.

I will be dropping my pen now. Thanks for reading; my name is Fashtioluwa.