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26 J.L. Pol'y & Globalization 1 (2014)

handle is hein.journals/jawpglob26 and id is 1 raw text is: Journal of Law, Policy and Globalization www iisteorg ISSN 2224-3240 (Paper) ISSN 2224-3259 (Online) I Vol.26, 2014 I1 [ The Correlation between Social Violence and the Comments of Nigerian Politicians during Electioneering Campaigns: A Political Marketing Study Ben Odigbo Dept. of Marketing, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus. Email: bodigbo @yahoo.com. Tel: 234-80-3322-3840 Silk Ugwu Ogbu School of Media and Communication, Pan-Atlantic University, 2 Ahmed Onibudo St, V.1, Lagos. Nigeria. Email: silk@universalmail.coni. Tel: +234-80-3203-4205 Odigbo, Rose Adannia Faculty of Law, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus. Email: rosedannia@yahoo.com. Tel: +234-80-3700-3791 ABSTRACT This study undertook a critical appraisal of the utterances and speeches of some Nigerian leaders/politicians during electioneering campaigns and their correlations to the level of social and political crisis witnessed in the country so far. It was motivated by the high level of violence and social crisis that greeted the 2011 general elections and the intractable social crisis in the country since independence. The objectives of the study therefore included to: ascertain the degree of correlation between the negative comments and the violence that followed the 2011 presidential election in Nigerian; determine the degree of correlation between the negative comments and the heightened insurgency social crisis in the country; and examine the potency of political marketing tools as panacea for the problem. For the methodology, our primary data were sourced through opinion survey of Nigerian masses views on the comments/speeches by Nigerian politicians during the 2007 and 2011 electioneering campaigns. The data were statistically analyzed with Likert's 5-points scale and Spearman's correlation coefficient. Results obtained show a high degree of correlation between those negative comments and the political/social crises in the country since then, and that political marketing strategies packaged and professionally delivered by public relations experts would serve as effective panacea for such problems in future. Key words: Political violence, social violence, negative comments, electioneering, political marketing. 1. Background to the Study Election violence or election-related violence is understood as violent action against people, property or the electoral process, intended to influence the electoral process before, during or after elections (Atuobi, 2010; Odigbo, 2014). Electioneering campaigns in Nigeria have always been characterized by political violence of unimaginable proportions. The nature and manifestations of election violence in Africa according to the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and Centre for Conflict Research (2001), and in Nigeria according to Ugwu (2014) include: * Murder/Killings; * Looting, destruction and damage of property; * Political assassinations, kidnap, assault and death threats; * Pre- and post-election bombings; as like the Boko-Haram cases; * Fighting among political parties' supporters; * Arbitrary detentions and arrests ofjournalists and political opponents * Intimidation of voters during elections, and many more. Sanctions against all these electoral offences are duly provided for in the various Nigerian electoral laws. Yet, the violence continued, threatening the nation's democracy, social peace and national unity. Some sane and highly disciplined men and women in the country have blamed it on the pre-election utterances of notable Nigerian leaders/politicians ( ). It is their views that a greater percentage of the electoral violence in the country are often ignited by inciting speeches by politicians, opinion leaders or 'bought-over' religious leaders. For instance, before the 2007 general elections, the country was over-heated over feuds between the then President, Olusegun Obasanjo, and his Vice, Atiku Abubakar, accusing each other of corruption and counter-

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