Abstract
Elections in the world are not taken with levity as it is one of the major determinants of what would become of the certain country in some years to come. During the 2015 general election in Nigeria, the political environment was intensified with the proliferation of adverts, political innuendos and propaganda messages. Media organisations in Nigeria, as always, became vehicles and channels of expressions and propaganda. A significant number of these messages had elements of hate speeches which were targeted at ridiculing opponents and opposition parties. Nigeria has witnessed several elections and campaigns with the intention of securing the people’s vote, however, the political environment of Nigeria is not which that can be describe as conducive with candidates attacking personalities and political parties. Questions are being raised as citizens want to find out the role hate speeches plays in election campaigns and how it affects voter’s choice of candidate with their perception about such candidate before, during and after the election. The essence of the hate speech is to ridicule and lower the esteem of others before well-meaning voters. This paper evaluated the extent at which hate speeches were used during the 2015 general elections in Nigeria. This paper was anchored on the social responsibility theory, which explains how media should ideally operate in a given society of social values and it is the standard against which the public judges. The paper concluded that many hate speeches were used across all the mass media during the 2015 general elections in Nigeria but as none of these people who uttered the hate speeches were not punished. The paper recommended that political actors that engage in the use of hate speeches during electioneering should be punished according to the electoral laws of the country. Furthermore, stringent punitive measures should be meted to media outlets that publish or broadcast hate speeches as a form of deterrent for the growth of democracy in Nigeria.
Highlights
Hate speech is any speech that attacks a person or group on the basis of attributes such as gender, ethnic origin, religion, race, disability, or sexual orientation (Dictionary.com, 2011)
Ayo-Aderele (2015) in a write-up published by Punch Newspapers on March 10, 2015, with the caption “When Hate Speeches Threaten an Election” decried the hate speeches that characterized political campaigns in Nigeria, from the uncouth, to the uncultured and absolutely damning statements emanating from both camps, Nigerians couldn‟t have heard anything worse in recent times as far as campaigns are concerned
The paper concludes that hate speeches were indiscriminately used during the 2015 general elections campaign in Nigeria
Summary
Hate speech is any speech that attacks a person or group on the basis of attributes such as gender, ethnic origin, religion, race, disability, or sexual orientation (Dictionary.com, 2011). Ezeibe (2015) supported that “Hate speech is any speech, gesture, conduct, writing or display which could incite people to violence or prejudicial action. Jideofor Adibe (2014) as cited by Segun (2015) states, “Hate speech employs discriminatory epithets to insult and stigmatize others on the basis of their race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or other forms of group membership It is any speech, gesture, conduct, writing or display which could incite people to violence or prejudicial action. The campaign period of the elections saw many hate speeches being used by politicians in the country Most of these derogatory speeches and advertorials were used by the members of the two leading political parties in the country – People‟s Democratic Party (PDP) and All People‟s Congress (APC). This paper seeks to evaluate the extent at which hate speeches were used during the 2015 general elections campaign in Nigeria
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