Social Media in Nigeria’s Ongoing General Elections

THE REVOLUTION IS BEING TWEETED!

By Rosemary Ajayi with thanks to Blacklooks

Tuesday, April 19, 2011.

Rosemary
A Ajayi has been directly involved with the monitoring of social media
during Nigeria’s elections. She sent this report last evening.

Nigeria’s 2011 general elections are high up on the list of my ‘most anticipated events’.
For the first time in Nigeria’s history, twenty- and thirty-something
year old Nigerians across the world have been granted an opportunity to
take active roles in the conduct, reporting, monitoring, scrutinising
and documentation of the elections.

I am one of many who have been afforded the chance to be more than just a voter in these elections; I am actively involved in EiE Nigeria,
a project to mobilise and empower young Nigerians to participate
positively in the upcoming elections. I am also involved in a study
which tracks and analyses the impact of social media on the Nigerian
elections. The Social Media Tracking Centre is supported by EiE Nigeria
, the International Republican Institute, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems and the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Foundation.

Despite
recording only 44 million Nigerians (out of an estimated 150 million)
as having access to the internet, it is impossible to imagine elections
in Nigeria without tools such as Facebook, Twitter, SMS, mobile phones,
mobile apps or cameras. These have fast become the weapons of choice
for the Nigerian revolution.

Some interesting observations on the use of social media by key stakeholders include:

Use by independent observers: reporting and investigating electoral malpractice

On the eve of the parliamentary elections, US-based Nigerian and international observer, MsChika411
received local reports of misconduct in Owerri, Imo State and published
them on twitter. She received over 200 retweets and mentions, including
abuse and praise. This led to the deployment of CSOs to the area to
investigate. A national newspaper also tailed, Kema Chikwe, the alleged
offender. Reports from these additional sources supported MsChika411’s
claims.

Use by INEC: recruiting and empowering citizen monitors
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC,
made up for its absence from Facebook and Twitter during the voter
registration and verification stages by recruiting 4 social media
interns.

On the afternoon of April 9, when I relayed questions from
twitterers to IFES asking if voters could tweet results from their
polling units, I would never have imagined that within hours INEC would
be asking Nigerians to tweets results as well as photographs of the
result sheets.

Use by voters: protecting their votes and collecting documentary evidence

Ordinary citizens like Ibrahim Lawal were empowered by INEC’s directive to remain behind and send in photographs of results.

Abuse by candidates: declaring false victories and causing confusion

Prof Dora Akunyili, the past Minister for Information & Communication, used her Facebook and Twitter
(no longer available) accounts to announce her victory over her rival
in the Anambra Central senatorial district, Chris Ngige. INEC would
later announce Dr Ngige as the winner.

To report voter rigging at polling stations

The following video was filmed using a mobile phone at a polling station in Rivers State.

Despite being marred by logistical challenges, bomb blasts killing
at least 13 election personnel, violence, ballot snatching, bribes,
Nigerians generally feel that the process so far has been fairly
transparent, whether this translates into credible elections, only time
will tell.

There is one thing that is certain – Nigerians are watching!

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