The tweets, facebook updates, skype messages, text messages and pictures that voters exchanged via emails and mobile phones gave the Independent National Electoral Commission’s addresses of the polling booths, the locations, the number of people who were accredited, those who voted and the votes that each party got. Some also had pictures of the entire voting process, from accreditation to voting proper.
While it is too early in the day to measure the role and the influence the new media are likely to exert on the results from yesterday’s elections, one thing that is clear is that the dynamics of elections in Nigeria will never be the same again.
What started as a platform for communicating, networking and making friends is now viewed by many Nigerians as a critical tool of change. Even though the conventional uses of these platforms are still functional, the political happenstances all over the world have added a new dimension to it.
Now, it is no longer strange to hear advocacy groups ask people to post the election results in their localities on facebook, twitter, Blackberry messenger and other new media forms to checkmate rigging.
Not a few have pointed to the recent events in the Arab world where a muzzled citizenry used the new media to push for a revolution as being responsible for the drive that is being witnessed in the country.
Tunisia in particular was dubbed a ‘Twitter Revolution’ after images taken on mobile phones were posted to social networks and this propelled the popular revolt that forced the ex-president, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, to flee the country.
In Egypt, the political turmoil was said to have accounted for 57 per cent of news links shared by bloggers during the weeks of January 31 to February 4, 2010 and this led to the ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak.
Nigeria has also latched on to this new trend which was an uncommon sight during the last elections in 2007. Then, the only source for the results of the poll was the Maurice Iwu-led Independent National Electoral Commission. It was a common sight to see people sitting glued to their television and radio sets waiting for INEC to pronounce who won or lost.
Last Saturday was different. The huge outcry that met the purported news that the police wanted to restrict the use of camera phones was an indication that Nigerians understood the power of the new media as tools that could be used to ensure a free and fair election
Even before the elections started, as early as 8am, people were posting pictures of the activities and general conduct in their respective wards on these new media platforms. Different advocacy groups were also giving minute-by-minute details of what was going on across the country and reactions flowed endlessly. These advocacy groups also had sub groups in almost every nook and cranny and they compared results from time to time.
Even those without access to the Internet were not left out — they used their mobile phones to communicate and exchange news about activities in their environment.
The unprecedented phenomenon that was witnessed on Saturday was a result of the massive campaign by advocacy groups several months before the election. At the fore front of the new media campaign are youth groups which have introduced proactive mechanisms to ensure a free and fair election.
One of them is Osita Nwoye, an Internet consultant with Revoda, a mobile application that allows voters to report election activities as independent election observers from their respective polling units and also sends relevant information about the electoral process to registered users in specific locations.
Nwoye says that social networking has become essential during the elections, because it will be used to monitor activities at the polls and to prevent electoral frauds. “We will not leave it in their hands; we will tweet, facebook, send sms, and send pictures to find out if there is electoral violence or not. Clips of video taken will be posted on YouTube and communicated across to the people, so that anyone that rigs would be disgraced on facebook, twitter and the entire internet blogs. This is to ensure that people are carried along and not waiting for INEC.”
Just like Nwoye, Toyosi Akerele, the Chief Executive Officer of Rise also created an online portal where a mock poll was conducted for presidential candidates and the portal is also used to report election activities around the country.
It is not all about advocacy movements, however. Even the INEC joined the fray and created a Blackberry messenger group and it is also on twitter as an active participant in this new process.
As heart-warming as it may appear, most observers however worry about the admissibility of some of these new media evidences in court. Even though some lawyers have argued that electronic evidence may not be permissible in the courts, a constitutional lawyer, Prof. Itse Sagay, has a different opinion.
Sagay says that there have been cases where the court accepted this type of evidence and judgments were given in favour of the plaintiff. He says, “As long as the witnesses are credible, why not? I have heard two lawyers on TV saying that it is not acceptable in court, but electronic evidence is admissible, just like in the Abia State case and that of Governor Adams Oshiomole. Even the case of Uzoma Okere who gave electronic evidence when she was harassed by some naval officials cannot be forgotten in a hurry.”
Sagay however says that the challenge is how willing the proponents of the new media form as a tool of change are to testify in court. “As long as basic rules are observed, electronic evidence is okay and the basic rule is that the person who took the electronic evidence must testify personally in court. How many of them will be willing to come forward? Here lays the challenge,” submits Sagay.
Nwoye opines that what is most important is that Nigerians are becoming active participants in the electoral process. For him, it is better to start the change and face the challenges later than not starting at all.
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