The book “Cyber Politics: Social Media, Social Demography and Voting Behaviour in Nigeria” authored by Omoniyi Ibietan, PhD, Head of Media Relations and Management at the Nigeria Communications Commission, NCC, has continued to attract rave reviews from stakeholders, among them are the academia and members of the members the Association of Communication Scholars and Professionals of Nigeria (ACSPN).
The accolades came at the University of Ibadan, the Oyo State Capital, Nigeria where a special Book Reading and Further Review of the book was held on 19th April 2024 a public presentation was held.
Speaking on the headline Cyberpolitics and the Re-engineering of Political Communication in Africa, the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC Dr Aminu Maina, where the author works said the Dr Ibietan’s path-breaking book broaches a radical new territory in bridging psephology (i.e. the study of elections) and communications scholarship through an examination of the interface between social media networks and voting behaviour in the country.
The EVC said the book speaks to the reality of how the demographics of voting are now in favour of digital natives, whose engagements are set to upend the traditional media approaches, hence the great value in seeking an understanding of the growing interface across cyber politics, social media networks and social demography.
The author, Dr Maina added, utilises tested theoretical models and research methods to scrutinise the impact of social media on contemporary politics.
Dr Maina further said the book is “an absorbing and persuasive book that adds huge insightful value to an understanding of the interactions between politics, social media networks and other variables that influence the behaviour of voters in a democracy”.
In his remarks, a Professor of Media and Society; President of the Association of Communication Scholars and Professionals of Nigeria (ACSPN) and Vice-Chancellor of Federal University,Kashere, Gombe State, Umaru A. Pate said the book is a positive addition to the growing body of literature in the area especially as it gives the Nigerian context.
He said recommendied the book as worthy for all students of communication studies, political science and allied fields. According to Pate, “Our political tacticians and gladiators and other scholars of the interface between society and information and communication technologies will find the text appropriate and generously useful in helping them to deeply understand the strategies and impact of the social media in Nigerian politics”.
Pate said the author’s effort clearly manifested in the quality of the content in the book, its appropriate theoretical grounding, and sound conclusions that are reliably valid in the Nigerian context.
He enjoins interested individuals to get copies of the book for increased understanding of the relationship between social media and politics in Nigeria.
Prof. Abiodun Salawu of North-West University, South Africa who supervised the author’s PhD thesis one of his strengths of Dr Ibietan was that he was able to do effective academic writing was made reading his work not tortuous but exhilarating.
During the book review in July 25, 2023 the Azu Ishiekwene, journalist of over 35 years and Editor-In-Chief of LEADERSHIP made the following renarks:
“In parts of Cyber Politics, but in far greater detail in Chapters One, Five and Six, the author not only examines earlier studies on the impact of social factors, including peer, opinion leader and family influences on voter behaviour, he also sets out the broad objectives of the book, raising issues that are both specific and contemporaneous in value.
“In other words, instead of leaving the reader wondering what happened on the streets of North Carolina in Lazarsfeld’s studies decades ago and how that affects him in Gwagwalada, Abuja, Cyber Politics uses Nigeria’s 2015 general elections as anchor.
“It explores, among other things, the question of whether political conversations amongst Nigeria’s estimated 33 million active social media users, especially the influencers as of 2021 had any significant impact on the outcome of the 2015 election…
“Cyber Politics helps me as a voter to ponder if the social networks I belong to or the influencers I follow have any potential effects on my political behaviour either in terms of mobilisation or my actual voting decisions. Sometimes we think we’re our own man, until we realise, like Pavlov’s dog, that someone somewhere might be pulling the strings.”
