of people who parade themselves as politicians in Nigeria. As a social voice of the masses, by x-raying the inherent
flaws, self-centredness and selfishness of politicians, the blogger uses language to caution Nigerian electorates to
beware of the people they elect as leaders. First, he highlights the problems associated with having the typical Nigerian
politician as elected leaders, and then leaves his audience (supposedly Nigerian electorates) to decide for themselves.
The impact of his message cannot be lost on any reader, which is that people should vote wisely. Thus, he succeeds in
influencing voters to put on their thinking cap at the polls.
It is instructive to note the contrast between 'elect(ion)' and 'select(ion)' as used in the 2007 Elections context. It is
shameful that President Obasanjo was reported to have referred to the electoral contest as a “do-or-die affair” although
he was no longer a contestant. By focusing on the lexical item 'elect(ion)' the burden of choice is the responsibility of
the electorates, which is the ideal thing in established democracies. The underlying meaning encoded in 'elect(ion)'
enable the citizens to exercise their fundamental civic rights and make choices of their own. The electorates should be
the one to cast votes to decide who govern them. On the other way round, 'select(ion)' evokes apathy in the minds of
electorates. Cognitively, this is suggestive of delegated but undesirable shift of responsibility. The electorates are
deprived of the essential cardinal component of democracy. Ultimately, the use of 'elect(ion)' indicates citizen
participation whereas 'select(ion)' is indicative of civic deprivation. These two lexical cognates express the mood and
attitudes of the electorates towards the 2007 General Elections.
The following are selected acts performed by bloggers or associated with blogging in this paper: Blogging as
mobilization; Bloggers as electorates; Bloggers as watchdogs; Bloggers as political aspirants; and Blogging to effect
change.
5.1 BLOGGING AS MOBILIZATION
Weblogs are influential political tool for mobilization in many parts of the world (cf. Cross, 2005). Nigerian bloggers
made good use of this tool to educate, enlighten, and encourage eligible voters to avail themselves of the opportunity to
perform their civic duties. Titi Akinsanmi's blog (9 June 2006) outlines how electorates can be mobilized:
- Register (voters registration) towards expressing our voting rights;
- Convince everyone to register towards expressing their rights;
- Vote for the people of our choice;
- Be ready to "fight" (with the pen, association and other avenues) for a possible stealing of a clear
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Convention