Assessment of Rhetorical Use of Social Media for the 2019 Presidential Election in Nigeria

Abstract: The evolution of social media sites such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, Instagram, Telegram, and YouTube, among others, has revolutionized the pattern of political mobilization and participation globally. Hence, political actors and followers are using these platforms more often to mobilize and engage voters persuasively. This explains why researches by different scholars have been carried out on the rhetorical devices politicians employed while communicating on social media. However, within the limit of the available literature none of the reviewed studies were conducted in Nigeria or about the 2019 Nigerian Presidential Election. Hence, this study assessed rhetorical use of social media for the 2019 presidential election in Nigeria. The study was anchored on the Aristotle's Rhetorical Theory. The study used qualitative content analysis research design by using screenshots of social media campaigns posts of Atiku and Buhari for data collection. A textual analysis of social media posts was done using Aristotle's rhetorical strategies of persuasion-ethos, logos, pathos, and kairos. To achieve this, this study analyzed only the “Likes” and “Shares” of social media posts Atiku and Buhari with regards to 2019 Presidential Election in Nigeria. The study found that pathos was the prominent rhetoric appeal used by candidates during the 2019 elections in Nigeria. Pathos is a rhetorical device that both Buhari and Atiku used to appeal to the emotions of the electorates in order to support their positions. The study concludes that political candidates during the 2019 presidential election employed more pathos as a persuasive strategy to appeal to the electorate’s emotions and evoke feelings in ways social media was used in political mobilization. The study recommends, among others, that since logos was the least used persuasive appeal during the 2019 Presidential Election, politicians should use social media to engage and mobilize voters for policy development using proof, statistics and data rather than projecting their credibility and appealing to voters emotions as a way of increasing online engagement and political participation.

Keywords: Rhetorical Analysis, Social Media, Mobilization, Participation and Elections.

Published: June 2024

Issue: Vol 1 (3) 2024: PLASU JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES