Limits of Media Power in the Determination of Electoral Success: The Case of the 2015 Presidential Election in Nigeria

Abstract

This paper examines the use of the media for electoral campaigns.  It highlights the fact that media channels remain the most influential path to wooing electorates. It reasons that a control of the media could come via ownership pattern, or through the financial prowess of the campaigning entity, and the readiness to deploy same in the mobilization of voters. While the media could play a critical role in the manipulation of hearts and minds, for the benefit of a campaigner, an overwhelming ability to control the media is not an ultimate guarantor of electoral victory. There could as well be other intervening variables. The paper uses the 2015 general elections in Nigeria as a case, with a particular focus on the presidential elections, largely dominated by the All Progressive Party (APC, where Gen. Mohammadu Buhari was presidential candidate and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP, where the incumbent, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan was candidate. It concluded that despite the statutory and financial muscle of the incumbent President Jonathan, which gave it an edge in media campaigns, it was still not enough to ensure victory for the PDP.