POLITICAL COMMUNICATION IN A MULTIPARTY GOVERNORSHIP ELECTION: ISSUES AND NON-ISSUES

This study examines the 2022 gubernatorial election in Osun State, Nigeria, and investigates political communication in a multi-party electoral setting. The election offers a case study for examining how problems and non-issues were created, defined, and spread during the campaigns. It was mostly contested between Ademola Adeleke of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and Adegboyega Oyetola of the All-Progressives Congress (APC). Based on media reports, civil society observations, election monitoring accounts, and rhetorical analysis of campaign messages, the study concludes that while substantive policy debates were relatively weak, personality-based appeals, rhetorical persuasion, and symbolic messaging dominated political communication during the election. Using an online research tool (questionnaire) and a cross-sectional quantitative methodology, the study aims to collect data on political communication in Nigeria's multi-party governorship elections. Additionally, it employed a qualitative research methodology, drawing on campaign speeches and radio jingles, online news blogs, civil society and election-monitoring declarations, and newspaper and online media coverage. The study contends that while electoral integrity and peace messaging were emphasised, fundamental governance concerns, including infrastructure reform, healthcare, education, and economic development, were not fully discussed. According to the study's findings, Nigeria's multi-party democracy still lacks effective issue-based political communication, thereby restricting voters' ability to make informed decisions.