Elections
in the world are not taken with levity as it is one of the major determinants
of what would become of the certain country in some years to come. During the
2015 general election in Nigeria, the political environment was intensified
with the proliferation of adverts, political innuendos and propaganda messages.
Media organisations in Nigeria, as always, became vehicles and channels of
expressions and propaganda. A significant number of these messages had elements
of hate speeches which were targeted at ridiculing opponents and opposition parties.
Nigeria has witnessed several elections and campaigns with the intention of
securing the people’s vote, however, the political environment of Nigeria is
not which that can be describe as conducive with candidates attacking
personalities and political parties. Questions are being raised as citizens
want to find out the role hate speeches plays in election campaigns and how it
affects voter’s choice of candidate with their perception about such candidate
before, during and after the election. The essence of the hate speech is to
ridicule and lower the esteem of others before well-meaning voters. This paper evaluated
the extent at which hate speeches were used during the 2015 general elections
in Nigeria. This paper was anchored on the social responsibility theory, which
explains how media should ideally operate in a given society of social values
and it is the standard against which the public judges. The paper concluded
that many hate speeches were used across all the mass media during the 2015
general elections in Nigeria but as none of these people who uttered the hate
speeches were not punished. The paper recommended that political actors that
engage in the use of hate speeches during electioneering should be punished
according to the electoral laws of the country. Furthermore, stringent punitive
measures should be meted to media outlets that publish or broadcast hate
speeches as a form of deterrent for the growth of democracy in Nigeria.
Journal Section | Articles |
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Authors | |
Publication Date | December 27, 2017 |
Submission Date | September 3, 2017 |
Published in Issue | Year 2017Volume: 3 Issue: 9 |
Contact: ijasosjournal@hotmail.com
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