Thesis Abstract

Political organisation’s survival solely depends on the goodwill it receives from it various publics, especially when its public has to do with various views and beliefs. Hence the victory of any political organisation depends on the use of Public Relations tools and how effective its (PR) explored.

This research therefore, examined Public Relations as the Surviving Force of Political Organisation in Nigeria using All Progressive Congress as the Case Study.

In this research, the following hypotheses were tested;

                               I.            Was it publicity that contributed to APC victory?

                             II.            Did APC have the strongest Public Relations activities during the election?

                          III.            Is Public Relation one of the best techniques for political victory?

                         IV.            How effective is the role of PR in the race of presidential election?

                            V.            What are the various Public relations techniques employed by All Progressive Congress and how were they effectively used?

The research methodology used is Survey Method and Thematic Analysis. I used survey because it gives room for obtaining fresh and relevant information from a fair representative cross section of the respective respondents and the research instrument used for the survey was questionnaire. The thematic analysis is also employed in order to establish and complement the result from the survey; therefore, existing records are thematically analyzed.

          In conclusion, the research reveals that Public Relations is the surviving force for political organisation in Nigeria. It also stands as the victory tool for political parties.

Thesis Overview

1.0              INTRODUCTION

          The struggle of various political organisations towards attempting to defeat the singular ruling party for sixteen years of democracy in Nigeria since its inception, ponders on their respective effectiveness and practice of public relations. This struggle for ‘change’ definitely came through, in the just concluded 2015 general election as All Progressive Congress (APC) swept out sixteen years old ruling party, People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

          Public Relations reinforcement of the APC, resulting from its merging and collaboration of three political parties; All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), and Congress for Progressive /change (CPC) respectively. It is expedient to recall that each of this political party had one time or the other attempted the presidential race in order to defeat the ruling party but invariably proved abortive.