By Theresa Moses
Nearly half of 220 tracked online campaign conversations reflected acceptance of messages promoted by political actors, while others showed opposition or a mixture of agreement and scepticism, according to CEREDEMS-AFRICA’s #TrackingNaija2027Elections project.
The analysis examined social media conversations involving political actors, particularly media aides and core supporters of presidential candidates, using Stuart Hall’s encoding/decoding model to assess audience reception.
Acceptance accounted for 46.36% of the sample, representing 102 observations. Oppositional reception represented 28.18% (62 observations), while negotiated reception accounted for 25.45% (56 observations).
The findings indicate that acceptance was the largest category, but it did not constitute a majority. Combined, oppositional and negotiated reception accounted for 53.63% of the tracked conversations, suggesting that campaign messages were not uniformly accepted as presented.
The report highlights the importance of examining campaign claims beyond rally attendance and promotional messaging. Voters can assess policy proposals by checking supporting evidence, funding plans, implementation timelines and feasibility before forming conclusions.
#TrackingNaija2027Elections is a collaborative project by CEREDEMS-AFRICA, the University of Ilorin, and the RUDN University Institute of Geopolitical Communications, tracking electoral integrity and emerging risks ahead of Nigeria’s 2027 general elections.
Data Source: Social media accounts of political actors, 2026. CEREDEMS-AFRICA, #TrackingNaija2027Elections.
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