Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the Lagos State Governor, tops the list of Nigerian politicians who spent several millions of naira on Facebook ads during the 2023 election season, FIJ can report.

As the number of Nigerians reachable by sponsored ads grows, online political advertising is no longer a matter of choice for many politicians in Nigeria, who desire to reach a broader spectrum of audiences within a short time and avoid strict administrative rules that usually guide conventional advertising in the news media.

Between December 2022 and March 2023, Sanwo-Olu sponsored 98 political ads through his verified Facebook page with a minimum of N4,770 per day. Targeting millions of Lagos residents from 18 to 65 years of age and above, he spent a total of N15,438,446 in four months talking about his administration’s “projects across health, education, infrastructure, security, welfare, and environment” while seeking votes for his second-term ambition.

About 24 hours to the election on March 17, he stopped his Facebook campaign. And since then, the governor has not paid for any ad that falls within social issues, elections or politics on the platform.

Next to Sanwo-Olu was the state government’s official handle, which repeated eight sponsored ads at the cost of N2,056,854.

PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES

Beyond Sanwo-Olu and Lagos State Government, hundreds of politicians also competed for voters’ attention through Facebook during the period. As of May 2023, says Statista, a data and business intelligence platform, about 41.6 million Nigerians use Facebook.

Atiku Abubakar, via his verified page, ran a total of 18 adverts, costing him N1,379,262. Additionally, at least 24 support groups rooting for him to win the presidential election as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s candidate promoted 203 posts at a cumulative cost of N8,049,593.

Notable Among Atiku support groups were Atiku-Okowa.com and Refined Alliance for Atiku. Ifeanyi Okowa, Atiku’s vice-presidential candidate in the election, spent N3,047,825 on election adverts until May 29, 2023, when he completed his second term as Delta State Governor.

Another advertiser was President Bola Tinubu. Although he spent N11,564 on only one ad, not less than 22 support groups spent more in spreading his message. These support groups spent N8,277,854 for 553 ad copies altogether.

Beta Naija Group, a dodgy page that campaigned for Tinubu from February 12, 2022, to January 15, 2023, accounted for the largest part of this money, with N6,550,607 spent on 28 ads only. PBAT Media Centre also published some three ads at a cost of N28,127. Furthermore, BAT 2023, another pro-Tinubu page, spent N1,950,471 on 32 posts, all paid for by one Abraham Adesanya Adetutu A.

Of particular interest is the fact that all the ads by Beta Naija Group were later taken down by Facebook for failing to disclose who paid for them. When a political advertiser fails to disclose who paid for an ad, the platform says that “these ads ran without a disclaimer”. It can also take down the post.

In the case of Peter Obi, there was no evidence that he used his verified page to sponsor any content during the election period. However, he had the highest number of support groups, which ran sponsored ads to amplify his political message. FIJ’s findings showed that no fewer than 46 groups sponsored 237 pieces of content on Facebook, costing N3,435,459.

Some of these groups, however, were deactivated shortly after the election. This suggests these pages were purposely created to launder Obi’s image in the contest. For example, Peter Obi Support Network, which was responsible for 17 ads at N2,230,259, paid for by one Wilson Obinna Agu-Thomas, has been deleted. Pharm Chinedu For Peter Obi’s Presidency, also a pro-Obi page, has also been deleted.

FIJ’s investigation showed that Mukhail Adetokunbo Abiru, the senator representing Lagos East Senatorial District in the Senate, spent N3,047,825 on 24 ads between 2022 and March 2024, some of which conveyed his re-election message to the public.

FIJ understands that parties and their candidates do have budgets for their campaign activities. However, hardly any party has ever truly declared how they got their campaign funds as well as how they were spent as mandated by the Electoral Act, particularly in Section 90(4).

CLOSE TO HALF A BILLION FOR ADS

Generally, several posts were sponsored by various entities before and after the election to promote content relating to social issues, elections or politics. These entities included international bodies, media outlets and civil society groups.

Nigeria-focused sponsored posts by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) came second on the overall list of political advertisers from February to March 2023, spending N60,830,727 on 27 sponsored pieces. Yiaga Africa, an Africa-focused pro-democracy non-profit, spent the most during the period countrywide.

State governments also spent on Facebook ads from 2022 to April, according to the data obtained by FIJ from Facebook Ad Library. Kwara and Oyo State spent N1,417,425 and N20,000 for ads, respectively.

On the whole, a total of N431,490,165 was paid for 44,445 ads in Nigeria between March 2022 and April 2024. However, these numbers, according to Facebook, might differ slightly from the ones in Meta Ads Manager.