A Professor of Political Science at the University of Ilorin, Kwara State, Mr. Hassan Saliu, has attributed the large number of invalid votes being recorded during elections in the country to the failure of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to communicate to Nigerians the voting procedures until a few days to the election.
Saliu, however, urged the electoral body to commence effective political communication that would educate Nigerians on the conduct of 2023 general elections.
He also said that there could be no social re-engineering and peaceful conduct of elections in the country unless the governance environment is adjusted to develop more appreciation for effective political communication.
Saliu made the submission in Ilorin while delivering a paper titled “Effective Political Communication as a Veritable Tool for Social Re-engineering and Peaceful Electoral Process,” at the sideline of the book written by a journalist/ broadcaster, Mrs. Aminah Salako-Adekunle titled “Lest We Forget: Kwara Political Revolution, A Broadcaster’s Personal Account.”
Saliu, who is the President of the Nigerian Political Science Association (NIPSA), said: “The shoddy arrangements made by the INEC in educating Nigerians is a factor responsible for the low voter turnout recorded during the 2019 election.
“And to change the tide, all the critical stakeholders in Nigerian electoral process should brace up for 2023 general elections.”
He added that “Nigerian politicians should stop talking to themselves and engage more with the citizens.”
He also said that a peaceful electoral process could not be achieved without effective political communication that could reverse the high level of political apathy in the country.
The university don said that there is a difference between successful and effective political communication, and added that “in Nigeria, we are not at home with the need for effective political communication.
“Examples are too many in our country that suggests ineffective political communication. These are: comparing bandits with auto spare parts sellers; we are going for the Chinese loans whatever may be the reservations expressed by the citizens; categorisation of citizens as irrational elements etc,” he said.
Saliu said that communication has to be right and correct before any social engineering could take place, adding that a peaceful electoral process could not take place without effective political communication.
The university don also canvassed for effective political communication among the political class, saying that “effective political communication makes politics more attractive to technocrats and youth.
“It can bind the government to the people. It can lighten up the governance environment. One argues that the culture of effective political communication is overall good for social re-engineering and peaceful electoral process.”
Also speaking at the event, the reviewer of the book and former Group News Editor of Thisday Newspapers, Lagos, Mr. Abdulganiyu Kunle Akogun, encouraged journalists and media outfits to avoid every form of political partisanship in the discharge of their professional duties.
Akogun, who is now Director, Corporate Affairs of the University of Ilorin, said that it was very important for programme presenters and management of media outfits to ensure that they lived above board in their political reportage and presentations.
He added that society expected journalists and managers of news outfits to use the positions of trust they hold with neutrality and maturity and at all times, saying that they must avoid any situation where their neutrality and professionalism would be called to question.
Akogun insisted that the onus is on all the media stations to provide level playing grounds for all registered political parties to reach out to the people particularly during electioneering periods.
He added that providing all registered political parties equal opportunities was not only the least expected of a public-owned media station but also a basic requirement, which is tantamount to the display of justice, equity and fairness.
He noted that the accounts of the author had inadvertently betrayed the fact that her programme, “APC Gbode” on which the book was written was deliberately created and ran to chase the previous political tendency out of the leadership of the state.
Akogun, who completely dissected the contents and contexts of the book, said that it was an encouraging intellectual effort.
He said that the book ought to be read by all those who desired to know most of what transpired in the politics of Kwara State before and during the 2019 general elections, whose outcomes, he said, remained largely incredible to political analysts.
While commending and congratulating the author for recording her experience for posterity, Akogun charged other media practitioners to explore the art of book writing in order to preserve their experience for posterity.
