POLITICAL COMMUNICATION AND DEMOCRATIC RECESSION IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The argument has always been that a nation’s political development is possible only if the system of communication is sophisticated enough to drive the process of its building. Much as this rests on the political and socio-economic condition that accentuates the forces of development for maintenance of democracy in the society, the fundamental morass such as the type of politics fraught with violence, electoral frauds, unfulfilled promises and negligence on the part of the political communicators themselves amongst others, seems to influence the political spheres. The situation where political communication and advocacy have already taken the back seat, is a rehearse for democratic recession and impending anarchy. 176 editions of four national dailies were sampled to examine the thoughts around the unsettling and worsening state of the nation’s advocacy journalism and democratic experience in a raging post-COVID-19 pandemic era. It contends that for any meaningful political discourse outside the present recriminations and bitterness, there is need to re-negotiate the terms of the nation’s co-existence, which is what Professor Udoakah has been saying... Using bibliographic survey approach and relying on the tenets of Agenda Setting Theory as theoretical framework, , this paper concludes that democracy should be looked at from a developmental point of view and not as a class struggle or a rat race.