Political Communication in the 2015 General Elections in Nigeria: The Oyo State Experience- “The Wild, Wild West”

The 2015 General Elections in Nigeria have come and gone but left behind memories of the deluge of threats to Nigeria’s corporate existence as a country and other underlying challenges associated with ethnoreligious crises; and of course, the lingering, itching clog of insurgency and counter-insurgency. There are also the perceived power tussle between the six geo-political zones of the country vis-à-vis mundane political parties, especially the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC). In Oyo State of Nigeria, political speechifying and squabbles bore more of a combative look than political communication encounters during the period under study. The events in Oyo State in the 2015 general elections were disturbing to the peoples of the State in particular, and Nigeria in general.


Introduction
The 2015 General Elections in Nigeria have come and gone but left behind memories of the deluge of threats to Nigeria's corporate existence as a country and other underlying challenges associated with ethnoreligious crises; and of course, the lingering, itching clog of insurgency and counter-insurgency. There are also the perceived power tussle between the six geo-political zones of the country vis-à-vis mundane political parties, especially the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC). In Oyo State of Nigeria, political speechifying and squabbles bore more of a combative look than political communication encounters during the period under study. The events in Oyo State in the 2015 general elections were disturbing to the peoples of the State in particular, and Nigeria in general.
The political communication modus operandi and modus vivendi in the media and by politicians were troubling. This is because the mass media contents and speeches of political competitors in the game of politics and elections were basically combative, violence-oriented and devoid of issue -based discussions and campaigns that would have direct bearing on the progress, stability, unity and healthy political life of the " pace -setter" State in particular, and Nigeria in general. Political narratives and bantering between and among the political bigwigs in the State became so worrisome, especially as the States and the Country were heading towards general elections in the first quarter of 2015. Do the events in Oyo State "the wild, wild west" indicate that Yorubas are ungovernable? Or are they manifestations of the high degree of political sophistication among the Yorubas in the political communication strategies? Or have the Yoruba people become "first" also, (as they have prided themselves in many other more laudable achievements) than in acts of lawlessness?
This study attempts to provide some answers. For it was in the then Oyo State of Western Region that parliamentarians first fought in the legislature; it was here the institution of Obaship was first made the instrument of the politicians; it was the first State in which an Oba was brutally murdered by "tax agitators" and his body dismembered. And, it was in this State that demonstrators broke into the prison to release detainees. We believe that this study is significant because in our context here in Nigeria, political opinion is influenced through both formal and informal ways. Political actors use the mass media to display their political shenanigans and up the ante of political rivalry between/among one another in which members of the public are at the receiving end. Political communication is an interactive process concerning the transmission of information among politicians, the news media and the public. The process operates down-ward from governing institutions towards citizens, horizontally in linkages among political actors, and also upwards from public opinion towards authorities.
In essence, political communication also has to do with how media report power struggle, their biases and impartial coverage in ensuring sound political process. But the most crucial aspects of it is the analysis of speeches by politicians and those that are trying to influence the political opinion through formal and informal conversations among members of the public. Political communication addresses issues at the core of our democracies. It provides an understanding of the role and significance of the media, journalism and information in shaping public opinion. Political communication introduces people to the complex relationship between politics, the media and democracy. nutshell/ in brevity, is the focus of our study. An appropriate theoretical framework is clearly delineated with special references to the central objectives of the study while at the same time specifying the methods of data collection and analysis before making policy recommendations in the concluding part of the paper.

The Political Geography, History and Zones of Oyo State in Nigeria "The Pace -Setter" State
The acquisition of the sobriquet "The Pace-Setter" by Oyo State cannot be regarded as fortuitous, self-imposing or window dressing. Oyo State has a rich cultural tradition, vibrant economic climate and intimidating political history which became a show-piece for other component parts of Nigeria. Oyo State is synonymous with milestone achievements, recording "first in many aspects of human endeavour, particularly in the establishment of infrastructure which were later copied by other States of the Federation.
These include among a host of others:

The People of Oyo State
Oyo State is homogenous comprising in the main people of the Yoruba ethnic group who speak the Yoruba language. Like all other Yorubas, they claim descent from Oduduwa. They are rich in culture and believe in strong kinship ties as a means of holding the society together. This is revealed in the extended family system. This notwithstanding, there is a substantial number of people from other parts of the country who settle, live, work, study and trade in the State, mostly in the urban centres and rural areas. Non-Nigerians from West Africa, those of Asian, European, American and other African, Latin American stocks can also be identified.

Political Communication and Information Dissemination in Oyo State
The array of media organizations established in Ibadan, the State capital, has been supporting the State Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism which is the official organ of government in disseminating information on government activities, events, programmes, prospects and achievements to the people of the State. Among these is Ibadan Zonal Centre of Nigerian Television Authority (NTA). Ibadan established in 1959 and first in Africa under the name WNBSWNTV; the Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State (BCOS) 1977, Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) and the Galaxy Television, the first private television station in Nigeria (Table 2).
Others are the Nigerian Tribune, a privately owned newspaper established in 1949; the Oodua News; Oke-Ogun News; Ibarapa Now; Ibarapa Watch; Ibadan News and many other Community Newspapers (   shift from the usual approach the mass media of communication give to issues.
For the purpose of this study, we have employed a combination of the following theories as our theoretical anchor: The theory focuses on that subset of communication activity considered political by virtue of the consequences actual or potential, that it has for the functioning of the political system. It explains the process in which information and persuasive messages are transmitted from the political institutions of society through the mass media to the citizenry to whom they are ultimately accountable. It focuses on the role that Communication plays in political institutions and processes, and the role politics plays in shaping communication processes.
Finally, political communication theories as well as the communication approach explain that:-

1.
There is a peculiarly intimate relationship between the political process and the communication process.

3.
If politics is about power, then, this must be conveyed by power wielders. If politics is about participation, then the desires of citizens must be communicated to leaders. If politics is about legitimacy, then, regime norms must be symbolically expressed. And, if politics is about choice, then, policy options must be circulated.

4.
In this way, politics and communication (Political Communication) are linked [16].
The Agenda-setting theory is epitomized in the famous quote by Bernard Cohen (1963) saying that "the press may not be successful much of the time in telling people what to think, but it is stunningly successful in telling its readers what to think about". These point to the fact that people need to orient themselves in a complex world full of complex issues. In the absence of other cues, people tend to judge the importance of issues from their salience in the media and to focus their attention on those presumably most important issues [17]. Many studies have found that the media have little power to change people's opinion but more power to re-enforce existing views. This leads to the important question: How are the views formed in the first place?
Hence, one may hypothesize that the media have strong effects the first time a new issue is discussed. In fact, several studies have found that media effects are stronger for issues that people are unfamiliar with [17,18]. The Social Responsibility Theory originated from Robert M Huchins Commission on the freedom of press of 1947. "The press

Theoretical Framework
Theories are employed to explain situations. They help us to get a clear understanding of realities, among a host of other advantages and functions/usefulness. The dynamic nature of theories on political communication, elections and media coverage suggests a paradigm propagates the right of the press to criticize any institutions and even government, but it must be responsible enough to maintain the stability of the society". The Commission talks about a "free and responsible press" as being the corner-stone of any society. The guiding principle of the press at all times must and should be "In Public Interest". It is gratifying to note that the Social Responsibility Theory of the press came about as a result of the gross abuse observed in the libertarian era. The theory assumed rather erroneously that all human beings are necessarily responsible and could be trusted to use good judgment in carrying out their task and responsibility of keeping the public informed. Giving the press unbridled freedom is dangerous. "No nation will indefinitely tolerate a freedom of the pres that serves to divided the country and to open up the floodgates of criticism against the freely chosen government that leads it" [19]. Among the obligations of the media enunciated [20] are the following: • The media should accept and fulfill certain obligations to the society.
• The obligations are mainly to be met by setting high professional standards of in formativeness, truth, accuracy, objectivity and balance.
• In accepting and applying these obligations, media should be self-regulating within the frame of laws of the land.
• The media must avoid whatever could lead to crime, violence, or civil disorder or give offence to minority groups.
• The media should be pluralistic and reflect the diversity of the society, giving access to various points of view and to right of reply.
• Journalists and media professionals should be accountable to the society as a whole.
The Multidisciplinary Discourse Theory is a domain of approach in the Humanities and the Social Sciences. It systematically examines the structures and functions of text and talk in their social, political, and cultural contexts [21]. It claims that in order to understand the role of the news media and their "messages"; one needs to pay detailed attention to the structures and strategies of such discourses and to the ways these relate to institutional arrangements, on the one hand, and to the audience on the other hand [18,22].

Personalities and Issues for Political Communication
In the study of political communication, there has been a continuous debate about the more or less powerful effects of the media on the public. Instead of reviewing these positions and their empirical claims as far as political communication and the 2015 elections are concerned in Oyo State, we have examined in more general terms the role of the media within the broader framework of the media influence on their audiences as well as the social, cultural, political or economic power structures of society.
In order to focus this discussion better, we limit it to the news media, and in particular to Radio and Television broadcasting thus de-emphasizing the undoubtedly pivotal role of Newspapers and other media genres of mass political communication in the State during the period under study. We believe that this covers more appropriately political communication in the urban and rural areas of the state as Radio in particular is more common for political communication in those areas because of the ability to use batteries to operate radio when there is any power failure or erratic electricity supply. Also, Qualter [22] noted that: "Broadcasting is the most pervasive and therefore, one of the most powerful agents for influencing men's thoughts and actions, for giving them a picture, true or false, of their fellows and of the world in which they live, for appealing to their intellect, their emotions and their appetites, for filling their minds with beauty or ugliness, ideas or idleness, laughter or terror, love or hate".
The personalities on whom political communication in the State focused during the period were mostly/mainly election contestants under the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). There were other less focused parties in the race.
In particular, the personalities were the Governorship candidates of the APC, PDP, SDP, Labour Party, Accord Party, Kowa Party, and AD among a host of others. Similarly, seats were also fought for in the State House of Assembly by the Political Parties. In the same vain, the parties also had candidates for the Presidential, National Assembly

Issues for Election
The issues in the election were the following, although not entirely focused on by the contestants: 1. Peace and security in Oyo State.

2.
Agitations for the creation of IBADAN State.

Agitation for the creation of new Oyo State.
4. Regular payment of Teachers and other civil servants salaries.

Religion, which saw various political parties picking either
Muslim/Christian and vice versa as Governorship and Deputy Governorship candidates. This religious 'positive action'/ discrimination, was also applied to the State, National Assembly seats and the Presidential contest.
6. Creation of Employment opportunities for youths.

Fighting Economic Strangulation.
9. Rehabilitation of collapsed educational system at all levels.

10.
Rehabilitation of collapsed heath-care services.
11. Resuscitation of agricultural programmes like farm settlements; agricultural loan facilities; supply of fertilizers and agric equipments with a view to increase food production and provide job opportunities for youths and women.
12. Rehabilitation of old road and construction of new ones for easy accessibility.
13. Establishment of small scale industries and invitation of foreign investors to establish large scale industries aiming at providing more job opportunities and provision of infrastructural facilities, among others. The news media, especially, the Radio and Television stations produced programmes to cover various issues in the political communication and election campaign encounters. Some stations such as Splash FM 105.5 based in Ibadan, Radio Nigeria or FRCN 93.5, also in Ibadan among others organised "live" debate programmes/sessions for political office contenders. While all other governorship candidates of other political parties attended the "live" programmes, it should   be pointed out that Alao -Akala the governorship candidate of the Labour Party and a former PDP Governor in Oyo State did not attend any of the "Live" programes of the Radio and Television Stations at all.
There are also other programmes such as press Reports; Governorsto -be, the Presidency, Guest of the month, Meeting Point, View Point, Highlight, Politics-last week, Daily politics, Nigeria Decides etc.
There were also paid advertisements on political communication both in English and Yoruba languages by the Political Parties.
It was noted that the private -owned mass media were more objective and focused than government-owned mass media.
The Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State -Radio O-Y-O, B.C.OS. Focused more attention on the candidates of the APC than other political parties candidates.
In the same vein, the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria FRCN and the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA), focused more attention on the candidates of the PDP than the other political parties candidates.
Nevertheless, it should be pointed out too that private stations and papers owned by members of some political parties or their sympathizers behaved as government -owned media. For instance, the African Independent Television (AIT) and its Radio Stations owned by PDP man Dokpesi focused more favorably on PDP Contestants than other Political Parties contestants.
Our analysis indicates that the news media were not objective in their reportage and coverage of political communication in the prominence, favourable, unfavourable, special, neutral, reportorial, editorial and current affairs stories and advertisements they gave to various political parties.