Mass Media and Electioneering Campaign in Kogi State: A Study of the 2019 Gubernatorial Election in Lokoja Metropolis

Abstract

The mass media remains a critical stakeholder in any democracy. Moreover, since the return of Nigeria to democratic rule on May 29, 1999. The mass media have remained key in deepening democracy at all levels of governance in the country. However, the influence of the mass media in the conduct of the 2019 gubernatorial election in Kogi State have not been large investigated
in the literature. Therefore, this study seeks to achieve the following research objectives: Determine the influence of the electioneering campaign in the mass media on voting behaviour of the electorate; Find out other factors that affect their voting behaviour; Besides, survey design was adopted with data collected from both primary and secondary sources while multiple
regression analysis was adopted to analyse the data collected. The study revealed that the electorate made rational choice. Meanwhile, the personality of the individual voters matters a lot. This explains why the electorate voted the candidates of their choice because they naturally liked them and because as members of a group, they were told to vote a particular candidate; not
because they were given money, intimidation crowds out voting behaviour99, from their ethnic group, from the same political party, promised a better job. This study recommend that political parties should curtail the large sum of money spent on election campaign.