Popular controversial journalist, Simon Ateba, in this short but interesting piece published on his website, www.simonateba.com, questions the effectiveness of the social media team of President Goodluck Jonathan as the general elections draw nearer.
Article Highlights
– The president’s men have failed to articulate their campaign with few words
– The ‘transformation agenda’ phrase failed to gain ground
– President Jonathan team do not understand the power of the media and influence
Who is handling President Goodluck Jonathan’s social media team six days to the tough election? Are the President men seeing the big task ahead? Are they thinking about what to do now, on election day and the day after the election on Sunday 29 March?
Are they watching the strategies APC is putting in place? Sometimes I sit back and wonder why is APC doing so well on the social media and President Jonathan men and the PDP are missing it so obviously on the same platform. Let’s take the campaign for instance.
APC was able to use only three words: Corruption, Insecurity, and Change. Their message was that because of corruption and insecurity, Nigeria needed change. It was short, sharp and beautiful.
What did PDP do? They failed to articulate their campaign with few words. They tried to talk about ‘transformation agenda’. That phrase failed to gain ground. They did other things that failed to catch fire as well. And on the social media, they failed to coordinate everything from the bottom up.
But do they have a plan for the upcoming election? election eve? Election Day? and the day after election when all kinds of things will be appearing on the social media with APC making all kinds of allegations that will be retweeted by senators, governors, and all kinds of people with huge followership? Does PDP have a plan? I doubt and it is unfortunate.
If President Jonathan does not win this election, it will not be because he was worse than Abacha, Babangida, Obasanjo, Buhari and other dictators and thieves who ruled before him and crashed the economy while strengthening and expanding corruption, it will be because he failed to understand how to build charisma and a solid team that understood the power of the media and influence.
