Editor's note: In most cases, the influence of political parties, personality of the candidates and their programmes determine to a large extent, who electorate would cast their vote for during any election.
NAIJ.com reports that in this article, a media and communication campaign strategist, Kamoru Aremu Salaudeen, writes about whether or not the major contending parties’ programme narratives woo the electorate ahead of September 22 gubernatorial election in Osun state.
Salaudeen is the director, media and public engagement for Positive Campaign Initiative (PCI), Nigeria.
In every election, political parties and their candidates are the products electorate must buy before they could enjoy good governance or otherwise. As the campaigns unfold in Osun state for the September 22 governorship election, Positive Campaign Initiative (PCI) has discovered different campaign narratives being used by parties to set up their programmes or manifestoes in order to woo the electorates in Osun for the election.
ADP: A good deal for Osun People
Action Democratic Party (ADP) became one of the main political parties participating in the September 22 election when Alhaji Moshood Adeoti, the former Secretary to State Government (SSG), defected from the All Progressives Congress (APC) after the primary election that ensured the candidacy of Alhaji Gboyega Isiaka Oyetola.
His defection and emergence as the ADP’s candidate have led to defections of some members of the ruling party, especially the home-based politicians. As the campaign rages on, PCI has discovered that the candidacy of Alhaji Moshood Olalekan Adeoti is being framed within agriculture, employment generation and labour welfare prioritisation.
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Sixty-four percent of one of the jingles analysed, connoted joy for the people in the state. The party is ready to improve standard of living of workers and pensioners, pay the backlog of civil servants' salaries and pensioners' pension benefit arrears as well as engage in vast economic development.
In agriculture, the party aims at improving cocoa, kolanut and cashew farming. When elected, the party also intends to care for the aged, women, youth and children. Improving identified crops was found to be logical considering the state’s debt profile that needs to be defrayed using existing resources.
Delivering the promises is hinged on the fact that the party ‘holds the holy book’ that calls for good governance, analysis suggests. The party believes the state and its people have been suffering for a while. Hence, the need to vote for the party that would set them free from slave masters. ADP is a party that calls for a collective government where all indigenes of Osun will enjoy dividends of good governance tagged "Government of Osun for Osun”
APC : A pact for continuous development
PCI has found that the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s radio jingles were laced with the promises, ranging from physical to human development across the state if the voters elected its candidate, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola.
Analysis shows that messages of the four jingles of the party were embedded with happiness, reassuring voters of good fortune ahead when Alhaji Gboyega becomes governor in the state. One of the jingles says, “When it’s time to vote, you citizen of this state come out and vote for APC for the Lord’s promise for this state to come to pass and for progress upon progress to manifest.”
The ruling party believes that its candidate would deliver all the promises. In this regard, PCI’s analysis suggests that the party is confident of improving every place in the state. “Dear citizens, vote for the party with the broom so that God's promise can come to past; formidable development in every nook and cranny of Osun,” one of the jingles notes.
In all the jingles, APC emphasised its readiness to improve education, agriculture and labour welfare than industrial development. One out of the four jingles promises good health services to the citizenry. As expected, Alhaji Gboyega is portrayed as competent and as the only candidate who would ensure the continuity of the present development strides being enjoyed in the state.
PDP: Promising a route to freedom
Among the opposing political parties that will slug it out with the All Progressives Congress (APC), the ruling party in the September 22 governorship election, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been seen by many public and political analysts as the main opposition that will stress the ruling party’s resources.
This has been premised on the fact that the party won 9 out of 10 local governments that comprised Osun west senatorial district during 2017 bye-election in which Senator Nurudeen Ademola Adeleke defeated Senator Mudasiru Hussein, the APC’s candidate.
As projected by the analysts, PCI has discovered that PDP is making all efforts to unseat the APC in the September 22 election. From one of the party’s radio jingles being used to promote the candidacy of Senator Adeleke and the party’s programmes, analysis reveals that messages in the jingles were mostly embedded with joy and anger while the party is found to be critical in dealing with excesses of the ruling party.
Within the emotion elements, analysis indicates that messages in the jingles were laced with joy and anger by 58% and 54% respectively. When the party emphasised joy, PCI discovered that the party is telling the electorate and people of the state to be ready for uncommon happiness that would happen if its candidate is elected.
The party says its candidate is ready to free the people from captivity, poverty, unemployment, unfair treatment of retirees, labourers with meager salaries and untimely death of retirees due to right denial.
Throughout the jingles, Senator Ademola is portrayed as competent and different from self-serving leaders, strangers, workers and retirees’ enemy. The party reiterated that people of the state have weighed both sides and know who to vote for.
SDP : A call to serve Osun People with fresh ideas and experience
Like other political parties in the September 22 election, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) had its internal crisis before the campaigns started. After factional crisis, Senator Iyiola Omisore emerged as the flag bearer for the party having defeated Atanda Munirudeen Kehinde and Oladeji Kolawole Yemisi, with a landslide victory in the primary election held in 332 wards across 31 local councils in the state. Senator Omisore had 123,485 votes while Oladeji Kolawole Yemisi had 1,805 votes followed by Atanda Munirudeen Kehinde who was chose by a faction in the party earlier.
PCI’s analysis of two jingles being used to promote the candidacy of Senator Omisore indicates that the party and Senator Omisore want voters to consider them on September 22 based on the good fortunes that would accrue to them.
One of the jingles is dedicated to the party’s readiness to solve unemployment in the state, asking youths in the state to go to the party’s campaign office with their respective Curriculum Vitae. The jingles say, “He is ready to provide decent employment to thousands of Osun youths, which they will be proud of.”
Sadness occurs in one of the jingles when one of the voice artists exclaimed that ‘It is serious” in connection with another voice artists who says “He is honourable Iyiola Omisore, he has pity for the poor, he has the political experience to govern the state, and he is ready to be a good governor.” This indicates portraying Senator Omisore as candidate who would better the lot of the poor in the state.
On development-oriented programmes expected of each contestant, PCI discovered that SDP promises employment generation, improved education, agriculture, health, labour welfare and debt defraying. Expectedly, PCI’s analysis further shows that SDP’s candidate is being presented to the Osun electorate as most qualified candidates with a significant number of ideas and experience in governance.
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With this web of promises being dangled before the Osun electorates by the major contending parties, would voters in the state be able to elect the best candidate for the job in the September 22 election? Only time will tell.
Salaudeen could be reached via : Twitter : @nigeria_pci FB : @pci1nigeria LinkedIn : positive campaign initiative, Nigeria or 08117632795
Meanwhile, NAIJ.com had previously reported about the big issues ahead of the September 22 gubernatorial election in Osun state.
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Source: Naija.ng