Muyiwa Popoola
Prebendal political conflicts are crises of the ruling and political class, owing to disagreement in respect of appropriation and sharing of resources and wealth of a nation state, as personal needs and entitlements, Prebendalism, which is a strong concomitant of political godfatherism, has disturbed Nigeria’s democracy. The period between 2004 and 2006 has recorded a ruinous prebendal political conflict in the South-Eastern geo-political zone of Nigeria. The conflict, which involved an erstwhile Governor of Anambra State, Dr. Chris Ngige and a political chieftain in the state, Chief Chris Uba, occurred with attendant violence. However, empirical studies on the role played by the press in this type of conflict situation are faint in political communication literature. This study therefore was conducted to investigate how selected newspapers reported the Ngige and Uba prebendal political conflict in South-Eastern Nigeria between 2004 and 2006. Four Nigerian national newspapers were chosen for the study, namely: Daily Champion, Daily Trust, Nigerian Tribune and The Guardian. Purposive sampling was used to select 84 journalistic genres out of 72 editions of the newspapers. The study was organized within hermeneutical framework. All the newspapers reported scenarios that aided escalation of the conflict. The coverage reflected partisanship. Most particularly, Daily Champion took side blatantly and unprofessionally with Ngige against Uba. The reportage predicted destruction of lives and properties and violent acts that were perpetrated by the supporters of the conflicting parties in Anambra State of Nigeria between 2004 and 2006. The journalistic slanting of the conflict contravenes the tenets of a socially responsible press. Newspapers in Nigeria must be socially responsible in reporting political conflicts so as to bring about a peaceful political order in the country.
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