Abstract:

This article offers a contextual discourse on the nature of political stakes and the changing dynamics of elections in Nigeria by comparing the 2015 and 2019 Presidential elections as its main focus of analysis. Using qualitative technique which involves the use of secondary sources and personal interviews with certain key actors and experts in the political narrative of Nigeria, the article is able to predict that elections and voting patterns are driven by certain agendas and discourses that are not only used by the political actors but by the media and all its communication tools to further project, set and define the key topical issues in the electoral process. These discourses and agenda-setting ultimately influence the pattern and further raise the stakes in the elections given that voters are already stuck with these issues, which ultimately informed their choice of candidate. Thus, within the Nigerian context, these discourses are used to heavily influence voters’ choices and to define the direction of the voting, as evidenced in both the 2015 and 2019 Presidential elections in the country.