ASSESSMENT OF PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF MEDIA REPORTAGE OF THE 2013 OBASANJO/JONATHAN POLITICAL FACE-OFF: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE CONTENTIOUS LETTERS

ASSESSMENT OF PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF MEDIA REPORTAGE OF THE 2013 OBASANJO/JONATHAN POLITICAL FACE-OFF: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE CONTENTIOUS LETTERS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1      Background to the Study

Public perception is one of the most essential tools for measuring the effectiveness of the popularity of policies and programmes in a democratic society, as it is a sure way to ascertain how the public perceive particular news reports covered by the mass media. In advanced democracies such as The United States of America, and The Great Britain, public opinion normally influences the government on policy formulations and general decision making regarding the Citizenry.

Public reaction which is propagated by the mass media can lead to enthroning or dethroning of public figures as it was with the case in the United States of America (USA), during the tenure of President Richard Nixon and recent events in Kenya and Libya which lead to the dethronement of famous President Mubarak and Mummar Ghadafi. In Nigeria, public perception and opinion could also said to have been gaining some reasonable grounds especially with the emergence of democratic governance and leadership since 1999. The public has been expressing their views on issues affecting their daily lives even though the impact may not be compared to other advanced democratic societies of the world, the most recent, being the political face-off between the former president Olusegun Obsanjo, and the incumbent president, Goodluck Jonathan.

The Nigeria’s political and democratic leadership formation according to the Nation’s history began from 1960 when independence was gained through the struggles of some patriotic Nigerians from her colonial masters. The political leadership of the nation has over the years been saddled with great challenges, which evolves evidently from the multi-ethnic and diverse nature of the Nation’s populace.

In the course of taking the mantle of the Nation’s political leadership over the years, crisis, misunderstandings and face-offs among other political misgivings, try to overwhelm the interest of our leaders at the expense of national security. Sometimes, the misunderstandings, crisis or face-offs stems from political, religious, ethnic or regional inclinations. These disputes also emerge at the local, state or national levels, as the case between the former president Olusegun Obasanjo and Vice President Atiku Abubakar, which gained prominence during the 2003-2007 Obasanjo/Atiku administration.

The media repeatedly aired reports of the then President Obasanjo’s decision to run for a third term consecutively as the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The Punch Newspaper, January (2013), reported Obasanjo’s curiosity, and reasons for running a third term, as opposed by his vice Atiku Abubakar which served as the genesis of their open confrontations in 2005. According to Obasanjo (2006)

I left power twenty years ago, I left Mubarak in office, I left Mugabe in office, I left Eyadema in office, I left Umar Bonko and even Paul Biya, I came back and still they are in power; and I just did eight years and your asking me to leave why?

The reports yielded many responses from well meaning and patriotic Nigerians. The then vice president also responded to Obasanjo in a similar vein as other members of the public.  According to Atiku (2005) in the Punch (2013)

Nigeria is not Egypt, not Libya, not Cameroon, and not Togo. I said you must leave and even if it means both of us loose out but you cannot stay.

Obasanjo and Atiku fell out at some point during their administration; reports showed that the two didn’t see eye to eye toward the end of their second term in office. Indeed, the face-off between Obasanjo and Atiku affected development and overheated the polity, leading to ethnic religious and political agitations across Nigeria.

The administration of the incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan which began early 2010 is also a product of face-off which has manifested between the Presidency and other politicians whom have lost a sense of interest one way or the other.    

Evidently, it is clear that there has been major face-offs in Nigeria between politicians, religious groups, corporate organizations, communities etc. The thrust of this study however, is to appraise the public perception of the recent face-offs between former president Olusegun Obasanjo and the incumbent president Goodluck Jonathan over the former President’s open letter to the president.

 The contentious letters generated a lot of tension in Nigeria and heated the entire polity. The 18 page letter from Obasanjo titled “Before it’s Too Late’’ contained weighty allegations bothering on national security, corruption, mismanagement of the nation and deliberate attempt to disunite the nation among others. Despite advice   by Obasanjo to President Jonathan not to reply the letter, an 11 page letter was also replied to the former President after 21 days of silence from President Jonathan. The reply letter however, readdressed some of the issues raised by Obsanjo in his 18 page letter, stressing that he was fighting corruption according to the president.

In the midst of the face-offs, the media play an important role in the dissemination (reportage) of these messages for the consumption of the general public while the controversy lasted. According to Tobechukwu E.N (2007, p 2)

The media are often in liberal theory referred to as the ‘’fourth estate and the watch dog of the society’’, meaning that the media exist as an information sourcing and dissemination, educational promotion, surveillance and social enlightenment and mobilization.

           

Tobechukwu (2007) further posited that, ‘‘these functions set the media apart as an important link/factor in the relationship between the government and the governed, political and social crisis, and make them a sine qua non to societal growth and development’’

A good number of media outlets all over the world have reported the Obasanjo/Goodluck political face-off. The issue received international coverages from stations like CNN, BBC, etc and local stations including NTA, AIT, Silverbird, Channels, and other news stations across the world. The Nigerian print media also widely reported the contentious letter from the first day it was published. Prominent newspapers such as The Vanguard, graced the newsstands with bold headlines thus: Obasanjo accuses Jonathan of destroying Nigeria, PM News (online) captured thus: “Obasanjo blasts Jonathan, writes 18 page letter to president, among many other headlines.

On Jonathan’s part, media houses especially the print media on 23^rd of December (2013), captured on the front pages of their papers with the breakdown of his reply. The Nation captured thus: ‘‘Jonathan to Obsanjo: I’m fighting corruption’’, The Guardian had it that, ‘’Jonathan replies Obsanjo’’ with some main points written as kicker headlines. From the Sun: ‘’Jonathan hits Obasanjo’’, Daily Trust: ‘’Jonathan replies Obsanjo’’.  And so on.

The face-off as reported in the media attracted different perceptions from the various publics. Tobechukwu E.N (2007, p. 2) noted that:

Democratic culture has also given the media/news media the privilege of setting the agenda of political discuss and other forms of socio-cultural and economic discussions. This invariably makes the media very powerful and influential.

Relatively, Barran and Davies (2003, p.7), noted that, ‘‘agenda setting, empirically demonstrate links between media exposure, audience motivation to seek orientation and audience perception of public issues’’, which political issues are a good example.

In keeping with the mandate of the mass media as contained in chapter 2 subsections 22 of the 1999 constitution that:

          The press, radio, television and other agencies of the mass media must at all times be free to uphold the fundamental objectives contained in this chapter and uphold the responsibility and accountability of the Government to the people.

This research seeks to unravel the extent to which the media went to unveil the issues that were involved in the face-off, the crux of the matter, and also to ascertain public perception of the reportage of media, as it concerns the Obasanjo/Jonathan contentious letters.

1.2       Statement of the Problem

The already established role of the mass media as the fourth estate of the realm is critically based on its regular reportage of government’s policies, developments, decisions, as well as political crisis and face-offs amidst other trends in the political realm.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title page..................................................................................................i

Certification page......................................................................................ii

Approval page..........................................................................................iii

Dedication page.......................................................................................iv

Acknowledgment.....................................................................................v

Table of contents.....................................................................................vii

Abstract..................................................................................................xi

CHAPTER ONE

1.1       Background to the study _      _          _          _          _          _          _          1

1.2       Statement of the problem       _          _          _          _          _          _          7

1.3       Objectives of the study           _          _          _          _          _          _          _          8

1.4       Research questions    _          _          _          _          _          _          _          8

1.5       Hypothesis      _          _          _          _          _          _          _          _          _          9

1.6       Significance of the study        _          _          _          _          _          _       9

1.7       Scope of the study                  _          _          _          _          _          _      10

1.8       Limitations of the Study          _          _          _          _          _          _      10

1.9       definition of terms       _          _          _          _          _          _          _      11

CHAPTER TWO

2.1       Introduction     _          _          _          _          _          _          _          _      13

2.2       Review of concepts    _          _          _          _          _          -           _      13

2.2.1    Public Perception        _          _          _          _          _          _          _      13

2.2.2    Media Reportage        _          _          _          _          _          _          _          _      14

2.2.3    Political Face-off         _          _          _          _          _          _          _          _      14

2.3       Review of related literature     _          _          _          _          _          _        15

2.3.1    Assessment of Public perception of media reportage of Obasanjo/Jonathan contentious letters    _          _            _          _          _          15

2.4       Review of empirical works/case studies        _          _          _          _          23

2.5       Case Studies_ _          _          _          _          _          _          _          _        28

2.5.1 National Assembly/CBN Face-off_                   _          _          _          _       28

2.5.2 NNPC/CBN Face-off_  _          _          _          _          _          _          _       28

2.6       Theoretical Frame work         _          _          _          _          _          _          30

2.6.1    Selective perception theory    _          _          _          _          _          _          30

2.6.2    Conflict theory of social change         _          _          _          _          _          33

2.6.3    Democratic Participant media theory _          _          _          _          34

2.7       Chapter Summary      _          _          _          _          _          _          _          36

CHAPTER THREE

3.1       Introduction                 _          _          _          _          _          _          _          37

3.2       Research design         _          _          _          _          _          _          _          _          37

3.3       Population of the Study          _          _          _          _          _          _          38

3.4       Sample Size    _          _          _          _          _          _          _          _          39

3.5       Sampling techniques and Procedure _          _          _          _          39

3.6       Research instrument and administration        _          _          _          _          41

3.7       Method of data collection       _          _          _          _          _          _          42

3.8       Method of data analysis          _          _          _          _          _          _          42

CHAPTER FOUR

4.1       Introduction     _          _          _          _          _          _          _          _          43

4.2       Data presentation        _          _          _          _          _          _          _          43

4.3       Interview section         _          _          _          _          _          _          _          _          61

4.4       A comparative analysis of data obtained through the

Questionnaire and interviews _          _          _          _          _          66

4.5       Discussion of Findings/Analyses        _          _          _          _          _          69

4.6       Test of hypothesis       _          _          _          _          _          _          _          73

CHAPTER FIVE

5.1       Summary        _          _          _          _          _          _          _          _          _          75

5.2       Conclusion      _          _          _          _          _          _          _          _          _          76

5.3       Recommendations     _          _          _          _          _          _          _          77

Bibliography                _          _          _          _          _          _          _          _          79

Apendix A       _          _          _          _          _          _          _          _          _          _          82

Apendix B       _          -           _          _          _          _          _          _          _          _          86

TOPIC: ASSESSMENT OF PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF MEDIA REPORTAGE OF THE 2013 OBASANJO/JONATHAN POLITICAL FACE-OFF: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE CONTENTIOUS LETTERS

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