Since the rising to notoriety of the present "genre" of malicious content peddled as "fake news" (mostly over social media) in 2016 during the United States" presidential election, barely three years until Nigeria"s 2019 general elections, fake news has made dangerously damaging impacts on the Nigerian society socially, politically and economically. Notably, the escalating herder-farmer communal clashes in the northern parts of the country, ethno-religious crises in Taraba, Plateau and Benue states and the furiously burning fire of the thug-of-war between the ruling party (All Progressives Congress, APC) and the opposition, particularly the main opposition party (People"s Democratic Party, PDP) have all been attributed to fake news, untruth and political propaganda. This paper aims to provide further understanding about the evolving issues regarding fake news and its demonic impact on the Nigerian polity. To make that contribution toward building the literature, extant literature and verifiable online news content on fake news and its attributes were critically reviewed. This paper concludes that fake news and its associated notion of post-truth may continue to pose threat to the Nigerian polity unless strong measures are taken. For the effects of fake news and post-truth phenomena to be suppressed substantially, a tripartite participation involving these key stakeholdersthe government, legislators and the public should be modelled and implemented to the letter.
In addition to looking at the ongoing election campaigns in Nigeria, past election campaigns both locally and globally (especially since Brexit referendum in the United Kingdom and the 2016 presidential election in the United States) have highlighted how fake news and hate speech can be used to cause political instability in society. Ever since, fake news and hate speech issues and their impacts on democratic processes have gained widespread research attention. Hence, an urge exists to not only further understand the concepts of fake news and hate speech but also to define them based on empirical and critical literature. This chapter intends to clearly provide further understanding about the definition of fake news through a redefinition of the concept based on a critical review of literature. Also, critically discussed in this chapter are the impacts both fake news and hate speech can have on the consolidation of democracy in Nigeria. Some policy recommendations are offered.
In addition to looking at the ongoing election campaigns in Nigeria, past election campaigns both locally and globally (especially since Brexit referendum in the United Kingdom and the 2016 presidential election in the United States) have highlighted how fake news and hate speech can be used to cause political instability in society. Ever since, fake news and hate speech issues and their impacts on democratic processes have gained widespread research attention. Hence, an urge exists to not only further understand the concepts of fake news and hate speech but also to define them based on empirical and critical literature. This chapter intends to clearly provide further understanding about the definition of fake news through a redefinition of the concept based on a critical review of literature. Also, critically discussed in this chapter are the impacts both fake news and hate speech can have on the consolidation of democracy in Nigeria. Some policy recommendations are offered.
The study was Nigeria-South Africa diplomatic face off over Yellow fever Vaccination issue. The problem started when 125 Nigerians, including a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, who landed at the Oliver Tambo International Airport on March 1st, 2012 were prevented from entering the country, because they did not have the required documentation for vaccination against yellow fever. The following day 75 of them were sent home via the South African Airways while another 50 were sent home via Nigerian Airline "Arik Air" (This Day, 3rd, March, 2012). In response to the deportation of some Nigerians from South Africa, 28 South Africans were turned back at Murtala Mohamed International Airport, and another 56 illegal immigrants from South Africa were deported following day A total of four Nigerian newspapers had a combined total of 480 editions. To arrive at the number of editions to be used, as sample size, a constructed weeks study was used to draw from the 480 editions at one day interval. This amounted to 3 editions per paper per week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday). Hence, a total of 12 editions per month multiplied by four months amounted to 48 editions on the average. Also, the total sample was gotten by multiplying 48 editions by four newspaper titles which amounted to 192 editions. The purposive sampling technique was used to select the sample of stories from the editions examined. The methods for data presentation and analysis were both qualitative and quantitative analysis. Hence we made use of frequency tables and simple percentage. The study results show that the four Nigerian Newspapers namely Vanguard, This Day, The Daily Sun and The Nation published different reports such as editorials, news stories, and letters to editor on the issues. However, the papers were not unmindful of the political implication of the face-off, hence, they tried to balance national interests and African unity thereby emphasizing less on the bad relationship such incident was capable of generating among African sister states.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Copyright © 2025 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.