Political Campaign: Between INEC’s Guideline and Menace of Hate Speeches

Brands and Advertising

Raheem Akingbolu writes on the current political communications in the country and how political parties are flouting the rules of the game in an attempt to sell their candidates ahead of the 2023 presidential election

It is often said that political communication thrives on the strength of mind modulation which invariably is the aim of any brand positioning. It is all about a relentless drive toward conditioning the mind of the consumer to see a particular brand as the ultimate choice. 

While consumer brands might be easy to handle in terms of positioning, the same thing could not be said of political communication otherwise known in regular parlance as ‘campaign’. Since humans are the products being marketed, other extenuating factors usually come into play. And that is why religious and ethnic emotions often play a role in the mix. 

For instance, the brand equity of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, seems to be self-sustaining on the premise of the perception that he is not corrupt and does not belong to the category of those who have been reaping off the system for decades. That is why his message resonates with the younger generation who seem to genuinely want a change. And the job of those marketing him is made easier by the fact that those rooting for his candidacy are the largest consumer of data on social media content. 

What has worked for him, also, and which has become the albatross of Atiku Abubakar and Bola Tinubu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC), respectively is the entrenched disillusionment on the part of the voting populace.

In 2015, the now ruling APC, then in opposition, launched a very strong and mind-changing campaign built on the fulcrum of ‘change’. The messaging was not only bought by the people, it went a long way to demarket the then-ruling PDP. It was a concept of change from corruption (the main thrust of their messaging), insecurity and social disequilibrium. And coupled with the fact that humans naturally want a change from what they are used to, the APC created a perception of an alternative that could be trusted.

In the then-presidential candidate and now sitting President, Muhammadu Buhari, an image of a no-nonsense, upright and incorruptible leader was created in the minds of voters who were also made to believe rather impossible promises, especially in the area of the economy. 

However, seven years down line, and with the situation even being much worse than it was when the APC came in, the job of selling the party to the electorate has been made so difficult. Even while there might be an impressive messaging and communication team, the question remains: what are the parameters to sell the party to the people again?

With the reverse being the case, the level of disillusionment is so high that the candidacy of Obi of the Labour Party is gaining a lot of traction. This is also helped by the fact that the baggage that PDP is still carrying from its own 16 years in power is still fresh in memory.

In a nutshell, selling the APC and PDP brands has been a bit difficult but more especially, that of the APC.

Foremost marketing communications practitioner and one-time Director of Monitoring and Planning for the Buhari Campaign Organisation, Dr TOE Ekechi, said the ruling party, in its communication, has to know the difference Buhari enjoyed in 2015 and the brand value of the party itself. 

 “The biggest undoing will be an arrogant assumption that as a ruling party, we still enjoy positive and extensive goodwill and confidence of the people of Nigeria. Another flaw in the thinking is the failure of the incoming ‘administration’ to realise that there is a very strong difference between the support for Buhari and support for APC, especially from our core base in the North. In addition to this, so many factors have providentially conspired to make the political environment naturally antagonistic to the APC and their identifiable stakeholders and pillars which include our presidential candidate and his running-mate. And these factors are insecurity, harsh economy and the unfortunate religious snare of the Muslim-Muslim ticket. Therefore, in proposing and couching their political messages and communication to voters, the aforementioned factors must be put into deep reflective considerations otherwise they will be sending sophisticated albeit sweet messages which may irritate and annoy the electorate further,” Ekechi explained. 

 Speaking further, Ekechi said it would be unfair to say Tinubu did not consider his options before picking a minority northerner but from the majority religion. 

 “The more he tries, therefore, to respond to certain things, Tinubu supporters are like Arsenal Football Club supporters; they are with him, rain and sunshine. PDP supporters are like Manchester United supporters. Therefore, his message should be to those who could still be convinced but make sure you keep those who are already with you. In his messaging, he is not being proactive but responsive.”

 He added that those working for him are those who believe in the brand and not those who see him as an opportunity to get their gratuity. 

“There must be an emotional connection to a brand before you can promote it. That is what is lacking in the Tinubu campaign train,” Ekechi lamented. 

The opposition PDP has often praised itself as the longest existing political brand in the country, having been in existence for over 24 years. Apart from this, it is the only party that has remained just the way it was registered in 1998. While other parties have fizzled out or undergone several name changes, the PDP has remained as it is and its brand logo remains unchanged. 

Though the party has invested in its youth wings to cater for the younger generation, the election of a septuagenarian as its presidential candidate does not show consistency with the drive to give younger people more say in the party.

 While the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is very clear in its guidelines on how campaigns are run, the fact that social media, where most of the communication takes place, remains unregulated, has become a challenge. Citizen journalism which is never controlled anywhere in the world seems to have taken over the functions and jobs of the traditional media. And that is why ethnic religious and homophobic content rules the air which usually relegates issues to the background.

The Advertising Practitioners Council (APCON), the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), as well as INEC can sanction the regulated media over what they run on their platforms. But they are helpless when it comes to social media. And that is why the control of the new media is so fierce among the candidates with the belief that anyone who gains upper hand there has scored a very big plus in its communication efforts. 

In a telephone conversation with THISDAY, the Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria, APCON, Dr Lekan Fadolapo, said the regulatory body is working behind the scene with the INEC and NBC to come out with guidelines for the political campaign as Nigeria approaches 2023 election.

For instance, for weeks, the issue of Muslim-Muslim tickets was on the front burner. It took so much discussion time that many didn’t remember to ask what the manifestoes of the party were. Therefore, what dominated the communication was religious content which made messaging so difficult. And in an environment where such issues are very sensitive, the ruling APC had its job cut out. 

 In a bid to send a message to the Christian community that their members were not really against a Muslim-Muslim ticket, some supposed clerics were present at the official presentation of the running-mate to their presidential candidate, Kashim Shettima. The aim of this was to further puncture the position of those who said a Muslim-Muslim ticket won’t fly and convince Christians that their interests would be taken care of. Unfortunately, the intended consequences were lost because those who were at the event did not represent the Christian community. 

Meanwhile, in what looked like regulatory rascality, the PDP governorship candidate in Lagos, Olajide ‘Jandor’ Adediran, had recently accused the Lagos State government of pulling down his campaign posters.

He made the claim when he appeared as a guest on ARISE NEWS Channel programme, ‘The Morning Show.

He said the state government, through the Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency, (LASSA) “threatened” two advert companies handling his campaign posters to pull them down or have their licences withdrawn.

“The moment that of Afromedia happened at Falomo here, I put a call through to the commissioner of police myself and I said to him ‘CP, this just happened, it was removed,’ we didn’t even know, we thought it was the hoodlums that removed them.

“After investigating we now realised that it is the state government, through LASAA, that went to remove them.

“And the company in question did say to us that ‘we have been asked not to take anything from you, we will refund your money. Just like JCDecaux did refund our money,” the politician stated.

In a swift reaction, LASAA dismissed the claim. LASAA Managing Director, Prince Ademola Docemo, in a statement, said the candidate’s allegation did not show an understanding of the rules guiding outdoor advertisement practice in Lagos.

The statement said that LASAA regulates billboard structures and not advertisement campaigns. 

“The decision to deploy any advertisement is the sole discretion of billboard owners who must have registered with LASAA for a licence to hoist advertisement structures in the state.

“Advertising companies determine their clients and the terms of their trade,” the statement reads.

It clarified the pasting of posters when political campaigns are formally flagged off by INEC guidelines.

According to the statement, when this is done, the pasting of posters, rather than being done indiscriminately, must be done at designated sites.

But as summed up by a communication expert and social media activist, Dauda Lawal, there is a need for decorum on the part of all political parties in the area of political advertisement before INEC’s stipulated period.

“Beyond regulatory bodies, I think political parties should be in the forefront of educating their members against hate speech and unruly campaigns that flout INEC and ARCON guidelines. This is important because, to date, the Nigerian government is yet to take a position on social media regulation, which is fast changing the face of communication,” Lawal said.