ONWUTA, STELLA ONYINYECHI (2026) SOCIAL MEDIA IMPLICATIONS ON PUBLIC POLITICAL OPINIONS AND ELECTORAL OUTCOMES IN NIGERIA: 2015–2023. Other thesis, GODFREY OKOYE UNIVERSITY, ENUGU.
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Abstract
This study looks at how social media has influenced public political opinion and electoral outcomes in Nigeria between 2015 and 2023, a stretch of time that covers three general election cycles. Over this period, platforms such as Facebook, Twitter (now X), WhatsApp and TikTok moved from being marginal add-ons to political life to becoming central spaces where Nigerians access, share and argue over political information. Even so, there has been comparatively little sustained research into exactly how these platforms shape voter opinion and behaviour in Nigeria across successive elections rather than around a single campaign. Specifically, the study set out to investigate how social media use shaped public political opinion in Nigeria between 2015 and 2023, with particular attention to agenda-setting and the formation of echo chambers, and to examine how social media-driven disinformation influenced electoral outcomes across the 2015, 2019 and 2023 general elections. To make sense of the evidence gathered, the study draws on two theoretical lenses: Agenda-Setting Theory and the Echo Chamber/Filter Bubble perspective. A qualitative, documentary research design was adopted, drawing on peer-reviewed literature, institutional reports and documented electoral cases rather than on data collected directly from voters. The evidence points to a real and sustained influence of social media on political discourse across all three election cycles studied, an influence that was strongest among younger, urban and more educated Nigerians. Social media was used to mobilise supporters, circulate information and build counter-narratives to official accounts, most visibly through the Obidient movement of the 2023 elections. At the same time, the same platforms were exploited to spread misinformation and disinformation, which appears to have fed growing voter apathy and eroded public trust in the electoral process. The study concludes that, while social media carries genuine democratic potential, its actual effect on Nigerian elections is held back by low levels of digital literacy among users, deliberate manipulation by political actors, and the tendency of platform design to reward polarising rather than accurate content. It recommends closer collaboration between INEC, civil society organisations and media literacy advocates in developing practical frameworks for managing the influence of social media on Nigeria's electoral process. Keywords: Social Media, Political Opinions, Electoral Outcomes, Nigeria, Voter Behaviour, Misinformation, Digital Democracy
| Item Type: | Thesis (Other) |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) |
| Divisions: | Faculty of Management and Social Sciences |
| Depositing User: | CHIBUEZE EZE |
| Date Deposited: | 04 Aug 2026 09:13 |
| Last Modified: | 04 Aug 2026 09:13 |
| URI: | http://eprints.gouni.edu.ng/id/eprint/6172 |
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