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The Import of Differential Traditional Mode of Dressing in Campaign Poster Designs as Leverages to Gain Electioneering Advantages by Political Parties in Nigeria

The Import of Differential Traditional Mode of Dressing in Campaign Poster Designs as Leverages to Gain Electioneering Advantages by Political Parties in Nigeria

Mashood Olanrewaju Shagaya

Department of Creative Arts and Tourism, Faculty of Humanities, Management and Social Sciences, Kwara State University Malete, Nigeria

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2023.7446

 Received: 12 March 2023; Accepted: 29 March 2023; Published: 02 May 2023

ABSTRACT

In Graphics design production, there are established modes of practices which have been established over the years, be it a simple hand stenciled banner, to the creation of crests on fabrics by screen printing or by the new, more sophisticated, method of printing by direct imaging, designers have always focused on the adoption of elements and principles of design as the basis to put the design rubrics together.  But more than that, the entire breadth of design creation is often taken beyond the mundane of the simple rudiments. This paper, therefore, focused on a new phenomenon of personality induced impetus which became a noticeable trend on the production of political campaign posters in Nigeria. The paper delved into the historical appearance of campaign posters in Nigeria across the major political epochs, it was found out that the Nation’s political imbalance from divergent tribal regions was a primary flare which festered the personality induced visuals on posters in order to douse political tensions. Three major presidential candidates’ campaign posters were purposively selected for scrutiny from the 2023 Nigeria’s General election and the Art historical method of visual art criticism was adopted to appraise the posters and the practice of the Graphics designers. The paper concluded by ideating the inseparability of the role of art from the dictates of the society.

Keywords: Criticism, Posters, Political Campaign, Society, Visuals.

INTRODUCTION

The entire gamut of what constitutes the indices of a nation’ political framework is multi-dimensional. Suffice it to say that Nigeria, as a nation, is not devoid of such multifaceted political configuration in her drive to consolidate her political existence and growth among other nations of the world.

For her strive for unity, sustenance, intent to uphold tenet of good governance, and national identity, Nigeria has experienced a number of national occurrences which have tended to rock the core essence that binds the people together in terms of how successions to governance is achieved. Within this ambit of a nation’s quest for national progress, those series of political epochs or punctuations have culminated in a number of elections and coup d’états, Nyangoro (1993) alluded to the origins of several of such coups around the world and Nigeria in particular. Since experiences of coup d’états are arbitrary, unplanned, shroud in secrecy and spontaneous method of power usurpations, the suddenness makes devoid of pre-election public awareness activities that electioneering demand with the use of campaign posters.

For the several general elections in Nigeria since independence, the attending voters’ education and the accompanying electioneering campaigns have been strategies by authorities and other stake holders, Durotoye (2016) highlighted the adoption of such voters’ education strategies by different authorities and those concerned with profound media expenditure to sharpen public opinion on electioneering and elections. On the aspect of the populace themselves, different groups and political parties, with the intent to actualize programmes of their political schedule, have sought to do so through different public enlightenment channels like the radio, television and campaign posters to seek political power.

With the several channels of enlightenment for political campaigns from the period of independence to the current time, what pervaded the spheres of campaigns at the Federal level during elections appeared to be of two distinctive modes in terms of affinity to sectional modes of dressing. As prevalent as the campaign posters were, it was vividly explicit that there appeared to be less emphasis on modes of dressings with tribal affiliations on the visuals, specifically from the 1965 to the 1979 general elections, the society was seen to be less polarized along tribal or sectional lines.

On the recent political scenes however, agitations for regional autonomy, resource control, hues and cries against domination have come to the front burner, according to Okolo and Raymond (2014), federalism and resource control have become two topical issues which have elicited several actions on the part of government. As the yearnings became more complex, the urge for more regional political emancipation gravitated into calls for more devolution of powers and even to the absurdity of calling for secession in some quarters.

With the attending disenchanting voices that have tended to polarize the country along several fronts of religions, tribes and regional hegemonic struggles. Nigeria was, at no other point, in a more dire need for stronger united fronts, as to this, several political schemes were put in place to strengthen that desired unity among the constituent regions. Policies such as the creation of states, different Geo-political zones, the institutionalization of quota system and catchments area were instituted (Nwofo 2021).

 For the fact that the divergent views needed to be subdued, the political anxiety also has to be doused at electioneering periods too. So to say, the disaffection which has tended to have its effects on a broader national look has had to be addressed in many fronts including the manner of visuals on campaign posters.  To suppress the deep political divide, victor (2016) insinuated that from the immediate post independence period, political campaign posters have been found to be of different sizes as used to advertise candidates at various elections. That these posters are common features of the immediate period preceding elections potent that posters are inevitable aspects of the events basically to persuade the voters in order to draw attention and gain votes.

As a strategy to further deepen the basis of national cohesion, it was additionally entrenched in the constitution such that for anyone seeking the position of the President, it became mandatory, to not only win an overall simple majority, the candidate must win 25% of total vote cast in 24 of the country’s 36 states (The Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999). Be that as it may, the new template of seeking traversal political harmony within the different cultural divide in Nigeria suddenly began to influence the way cross-cultural imageries of candidates were composed in posters. The conspicuous trend became a part of the recent elections following the 1979 general elections.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Instances of the use of posters for campaigns in elections became more vividly noticeable around the second republic with the election of 1979. Since the 1966 coup which truncated the first republic, the attending political problems came with the agitations for a sustainable democracy. As this became fundamental, elections became much more of issue based around excoriating military rule and subjugating it under civilian regime. This was apparent in the manners of visual outlays of campaign posters which, profoundly, exhibited only party insignia as the major visual elements for political arousals. Suffice it to say that the concern for political emancipation then was more paramount than issues bordering on tribal, cultural or regional hegemony. Just like a flip of a sudden unwritten convention, the Nigeria political campaign landscape, at subsequent elections, got swiftly drenched with posters whose main elements were the imageries of the candidates at elections themselves. The major contending issues that arose therefore hinged on what spurred the alternation from purely party-focused representation to candidates’ visuals depictions or espousals. The surprise therefore is about what led to the exigency of the swift but fairly uncelebrated changeover from an essentially motif and icon-based-poster production to ones that are personality-focused.

Trends in the mode of dressing in political campaign posters in Nigeria

Nigerian’s period of the emergence of political campaigns itself could be traced to the time of the pre-independence era of the first election in 1923, but no one can say precisely as to the exalt period when posters crept into the spheres of campaign in the country, this may be largely owing to the level of development in the world then and especially as it concerned the technology of printing, however, evidences of early political campaign posters could be as early as the use of such printed visuals during the post independence elections of 1959 to the 60s, (Fig. 1).

Fig 1, 1953 Campaign poster of Mallam  Aminu Kano of Northern Elements Progressive Union

1953 Campaign poster of Mallam  Aminu Kano of Northern Elements Progressive Union

Source: https://web.facebook.com/570672416363041/photos/a.640601992703416/5091891564241081/?type=3&_rdc=1&_rdr

With reference to the political personalities on whose status the utility of campaign posters are historically reliant in Nigeria, the first crop of indigenous personalities involved in the independence struggle leading up to Nigeria’s political emancipation have the likes of Samuel Ajayi Crowther classified as the first generation of Nigeria’s founding fathers as averred to by Akinbode (2022), this means then that the probable period of the coming of the use of campaign posters could be as early as that immediate period preceding independence with the 1959 election and leading up to the 1979 general elections where personalities like Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Herbert Macauly, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Dr Nnamidi Azikiwe, Anthony Enahoro, Tafawa Balewa featured prominently.

The 1959 to 1979 period is a distinctive political era for two major reasons, with the direction of this paper on the use of political campaign posters, it was obvious that the first set of the indigenous political emancipators like Samuel Ajayi Crowther, Kitoye Ajasa, Adeyemo Alakija, Dr J. K. Randle and Candido Da Rocha, were not much disposed to modes of dressing that could easily pass for their African outlook (Fig. 2), in addition, not much would probably have been noticed in terms of differential attires as they were often homogeneously clad in suits.

The second reason was that there were dearth of records showing them in campaign posters as against the evidences in the array of photographs from other printed documents, this may be premised on the less sophistication of electioneering then as the struggle was not largely inward encounters but outward efforts against the colonialists.

Fig 2, Kitoye Ajasa

Kitoye AjasaKitoye Ajasa

Photo source: https://www.thehistoryville.com/founding-fathers-nigeria/

As further pressures for political liberation grew, the struggle for independence became more holistic, such that leadership efforts began to be more enchanted in projecting African status inclusive of  mode of dressing in different ethnic attires. This was particularly obvious with a second category of the founding fathers that saw it as a projection of a common front of disabused acculturation, (Fig. 3)

Fig 3: Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Dr Nnamidi Azikiwe and Sir Ahmadu Bello in traditional attires

Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Dr Nnamidi Azikiwe and Sir Ahmadu Bello in traditional attires

Source: https://thewhistler.ng/flashback-how-awolowo-azikiwe-sardauna-clashed-during-pre-independence-trip-to-britain/

The distinctive categorisation of a group of indigenous political leaders, who fought for Nigeria’s independence as a second force, and in whose hands full independence was attained brought the emergence of the likes of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Dr Nnamidi Azikiwe, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Tafawa Balewa, and Chief Anthony Enahoro. The mutation in status is on the categorization that such group did not only witness the pass-over from pre to post independence, but had continued their political activities well into the post independence era of 1960 and reaching up to the 80s.

The condition that pervaded Nigeria’s political landscape with this second group above, as it concerned electioneering and campaigns around the pre and post independence period was that, though Nigeria has been a multi-cultural world from onset, elements of liberalism still prevailed such that there was less focus on the differences in attires being put on by the different political figures regardless of tribal group. Those leaders, as part of their struggle, unilaterally resolved to impress their African identity upon the Europeans in the manners of their garbs. Though they might have been caught in the web of two distinctive dress cultures of the Colonial masters as well as that of their origins, it was easily discernible that they were often in their traditional outfits as a projection of the capability of self rule and identity (VOA, 2015). What further fostered this was the fact that there appeared to be a general consensus of the acceptability of  whatever traditional dress put forward by the leaders, this was a reflection of the society’s expanded bid to clamour for self-rule. As a unifying factor in the face of the struggle, Evolve (2023) saw cultural awareness as well as displaying diverse culture as a beacon of unity.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

For the purpose of a critical interrogation, the scope of this paper is delimited to the appraisal of human visual elements in campaign posters in Nigeria. The focus is purposively on posters of presidential candidates coming from the major parties of the 2023 general election, the purposive intent is premised on the fact that the instances of the posters themselves are often only easily obtainable at the heat of elections (Okechime, 2015), the import of the three purposively chosen parties is that they are the parties with such national spread to have such cross-culturally crafted posters across geopolitical zones, Adoyi, (2022) had relied on such basis for a similar delimitation in the past. In addition, the art appraisal visual analytical concepts as espoused by Barmet (2014) was adopted. While Barmet recognized four levels of scrutiny, with the indices of the same analytical scheme, Gray (2003) formulated a five-point assessment template that the visual elements can be subjected to as formal analysis in terms of reaction, formal analysis, content, context and objective perspective.

For the purpose of inferences for generalization, the focus of the population was on the campaign posters of the presidential candidates chosen in the 2023 Nigeria’s election. The onus was on the interpretations of the visuals as basis of cross-cultural influences for political party gains.  The three leading contenders’ posters were randomly selected from major State Capitals from the Northern and Southern zones of Nigeria. The two opposing zones being sufficient enough to measure the level of cross-cultural cross-dressing since two of the three candidates are from the Southern part of Nigeria and one from the North (Adoyi, 2022).

Compositional analysis of cross cultural visuals in Nigeria’s political campaign Posters

Though evidences of actual campaign posters of the pre-independence and the immediate post independence era are scarce, only other documentary evidences like books, newspapers and magazines are the ones replete with photographs of how consistent the major political founding fathers of Nigeria were clad in their different ethnic or religious attires then. Within the context of the derivative elements of visuals in campaign posters in Nigeria, the age-long characteristic of campaign posters has been that visuals on campaign posters have largely been of the candidates’ portraitures, complementary slogans and party insignias cum colour codes.  Of all these features, the imagery of party candidates appears to have a pervading influence all times. Tenz (2017) asserted that politicians leverage on the power of appearance to their advantage, the Nigerian political class are of  no exception in this.

Arising from the instances of the pioneer politicians like Mallam Aminu Kano, Dr Nnamidi Azikiwe, Sir Ahmadu Bello and Chief Obafemi Awolowo, features of their campaign posters have been largely froth with personal images derivative of the peculiar dress code they had adopted. These personal outfits, peculiar to them, were iconic and a display of personalized symbols. For example, for Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, his signature in terms of atypical dress was the voluminous turban worn as an appendage of his Islamic religion complemented with a bogus robe called “baba-nriga” in Hausa,. For Awolowo, he was noted for his Yoruba “Agbada” dress which he always balanced with a pair of glasses with circular panes and a shallow wooly cap called “Aburo” in Yoruba, Makinde (2017) concurred that “Awolowo has a peculiar cap and glasses” and that these paraphernalia can be used to represent him even without his actual figure. As for Nnamidi Azikiwe, even before he became a capped chief in 1972, the traditional Igbo cap has been a common feature of his outfit that he adorned atop a robe, (Uronne, 2020).

The political figures’ adopted dress code for public appearance potent an outward image that became symbolic to them in the public domain including on their campaign posters. As a general acceptance by their followers within the confines of their regions and across other cultural frontiers and zones, admirers and supporters subscribe to and copy their outfits as a treat of allegiance and a show of association (Rotimi, 2019). For example of this, the “awoists” took on the circular paned eye glasses and shallow cap as a mark of followership as some still wear them till date.

With all the personal encoding of the second republic major political figures with their outfits, the unanimous acceptance of their symbolic cultural appearances permeated the entire Nigerian landscape across regional divides without objections, this was so because Nigeria’s political landscape was largely, then, homogenous in outlook, as a result, there was no intent at designing campaign posters for the different regions with mutated cultural attires for same individuals. Whether for the East, West or the North, those political figures traversed the regional divide on campaign trails in their unchanged unique outfits. However, the impetus for non cross-cultural dressing was fostered by the fact that political party insignias (Fig, 4) sufficed enough as representing the ideals of the parties and suitable for political propagation then (Marketing Edge, 2023).

Fig 4. Political party’s logo as campaign posters during earlier elections

Political party’s logo as campaign posters during earlier elections

Source: https://marketingedge.com.ng/throwback-Thursday-old-political-parties-in-nigeria/

Import of the emergence of candidates’ visual images in Political Campaign Posters in Nigeria

            Having identified a set of three groups of political class in terms of the utility of campaign poster in Nigeria, there is also a second angle with the trio of characteristics with the posters themselves. While the political class can be conveniently sub grouped into the early group where there appears to be little of virtually non existence of the adoption of campaign posters, there was the second group whose major campaign posters employed primarily the insignias of party as visuals for design elements, while this second group are found to be outwardly unambiguous about the adoption of their self induced form of cultural dressing, the third and the current set can be classified as a group of individual politicians caught in the web of a political expedition with the individuals having  to show their personal images on campaign posters demanding cross-cultural orientation (VOA 2015).

 Conception and the emergence of transmuted design template in Nigeria’s campaign poster productions

The role of art in the society is said to be dependent on the fabric of that society as a constituent element that make up that society, as to this, neither the society nor its art can be divorced from each other within such entwined natural bond, that forms of art follow functions is an undisputable constriction that the cravings of the society dictate the nature of the art.

Since electioneering campaigns are elements of modern day Nigeria political arena, such social activities in turn result in the engagement of the services of designers to produce the needed posters for the human activities, the myriads of the intervening producers, clients, audience and the poster products, themselves, demand  being subjected to typical methods of perusals.

Having arrived at a period where campaign posters began to assume a monolithic template of cross-cultural format in Nigeria, there is the need to interrogate the impetus, the visual essence as well as the modus operandi of the designers caught within the web of the new design calling.

Impetus of the current hybrid campaign poster visuals

As it concerns posters meant for a wider political audience across several cultural divide in Nigeria today, it is needless debating the fact that there is a contemporary wave of cross-cultural appeal which saturates the appearance of the said posters. The genesis of the background are instances of a two-pronged origin first stimulated by the intent to coalesce a politically divisive landscape, the other being a reliant on the established code of existing cultural value as element of unification.

From whatever angle one looks at it, there are and have been concerted efforts to seek to harmonize the discordant political undertones confronting the country. As to this, several policies were put in place to set the nation on a path of unity, for example, it was entrenched in the constitution that a candidate in a presidential election will have to cross the hurdle of spread by not just winning by simple majority votes alone but also with 25% of the votes in 24 of the 36 states and the Federal Capital, (The Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999).

 Regardless of the level of the polarized agitations, political parties and their candidates at the Federal level are forced to imbibe a cross-frontier approach in their bid to arouse voters’ interest and gain political power across regions, as this becomes sacrosanct because of the naturally divergent political space, parties have to adopt several means including posters with culturally influenced imageries to reach across with messages,   Amusan, (2016), Asserted that the uses of posters are “to persuade, motivate, entice the voters and grab their attention”. In addition, Dauda and Hassan, (2017) agreed that such sensitization is very germane to political parties because it is an avenue to elicit party support with convincing messages by the political parties specially using posters among others. To highlight the quantum of historical benefits since ages, Fox (2022) espoused the age-long efficacy of campaign posters for as long as two centuries, the reason of its desired utility being the best channel for a wider coverage as well as ease of coverage, variations in concepts, evocative power and persuasive  impression.

Focusing on the essence of the visual imageries on the campaign posters of presidential candidate of 2023 general elections, beyond the constituent inscriptions on posters, party logos and slogans, there is a profound element of the use of candidates’ photographs in different cultural attires across different political zones.  The story appears to be a characteristic culminating from the basis of a recent past, for example President Muhammodu Buhari and Dr Goodluck Jonathan were the contenders in the 2015 general election and the two had to wear borrowed robes or attires across frontiers of other cultures (Fig. 5).

Fig. 5, 2015 Posters of Buhari and Jonathan adorning attires of Igbo and Yoruba respectively.

Posters of Buhari and Jonathan adorning attires of Igbo and Yoruba respectively.

Source: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/01/campaign-posters-war-intensifies-lagos/

Having seen the current wave of personification as a convention between political parties on the designs of campaign posters with bogus personal imageries, the notion to douse the discord of cultural divide by reaching across other cultures has been taken further to the platform of campaign podia. This is seen as an attempt to complement what goes on the posters to that of other political activities on the podia (Fig 6 & 7). Whichever is derivative, the onus is simply for the political party to try to portray their candidates as liberal as possible across their cultural boundaries.

Photo of Atiku Abubakar of PDP in  an Igbo toga despite being a Northerner

Beyond what can be classified as party dictates, it appears the individual candidates themselves are more desirous of wanting to be seen as championing the course of bridge building, this is done with the avalanche of their cross-cultural visuals in posters as well as mode of physical dressings at campaigns. With their real time photos, appearances at campaigns and concocted posters, the stage appears set for a wave of an unending political rivalry in the spheres of the struggle for public arousals.

To heighten the visual value of their campaign posters in a bid to capture a wide base of audience support at the election, the process of poster pasting and cross-cultural mode of dressing started quite as early, Opejobi, (2020) reported that the 20223 general election’s poster appearance started in 2020, if this was some three years earlier, it goes to show the priority attached to the politics of the poster duel itself among parties.

The three major candidates and parties at the 2023 Nigerian general election did not let down their guards as the rivalry was tenacious and competitive.  Drawing inspirations from the realm of symbolic personal attributes on one hand and coded outward illusion on the other, candidates with their outings ideated conditions of association with different cultures at different times and places of campaigns. As a general mode of group interest, the samples collected were explicit in the manners of the desired influence on the targeted public as seen on the posters.

Visual perusal of sampled posters

The three major candidates for the presidential election, by the requirement of the constitution and the urge for coverage of country, were found to have supplemented their physical campaign trails with a preponderance of posters that were distributed in major cities and into the hinterlands of Nigeria. As selected, sample posters of Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu of the All Peoples Congress (APC), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s of the Peoples Democratic Party  (PDP) and that of Mr Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) were acquired from the three major political zones of North, West and South  of Nigeria. As is obvious, it is convenient to classify the zones as such since the candidates themselves emanated from the said zones.

As is usual with every recent election in Nigeria, campaign posters been early signs of the heat of the events for everyone, to spark off the trail towards such elections, some posters are reportedly done either anonymously, by proxy or under some pseudo arrangement to stir some emotions or test the waters of some candidates.  Such early appearances are at times denied by the persons concerned or not refuted. For example, the jostling for the 2015 Presidential election with poster got to frenzy as early as between December 2014 to January 2015, Asomba (2015) described such appearances of posters in a flurry in Lagos at a pre-2015 election period when posters began to appropriate the public spaces.

 For the 2023 presidential election, Opejobi (2020) pointed out the early signs of posters’ debut with the mention of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s online campaign poster (Fig. 8), and true to life, the visual on the said Graphic item of the PDP presidential candidate was a reflection of the candidate’s attempt to respond to the country’s issue of unity, the poster bore three images of the candidate himself dressed in the attires of the three major zones of the North, East and West of Nigeria. The accompanying inscriptions in the three major languages of  Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo were evidences of a desired effort to garner support from the different regions by associating with them using the emotions of visuals of traditional costumes. With this trio of a graphical presentation, the campaign message intended was a persuasive language to dissuade the basis of tribal fellow.

Fig 8, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar dressed in different regional attires in a poster 

Alhaji Atiku Abubakar dressed in different regional attires in a poster 

            With the duo of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Alhaji Kashim Shetima who emerged as the APC Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates respectfully, the dissenting voice raised about the two’s candidature came largely from the uproar that followed a combination of the pair with  the same faith, this, no doubt, opened another dimension in the already polarized condition on ground before their candidature, Nigeria with such a complex societal structure makes separating cultural affiliation from religion or mode of dressing a daunting task. As to this, it is perfect for any would be harmonizer to subscribe to some modes of dressing accepted as an affront for a particular region or religion (Fig, 5, 7 and Fig. 9). This is because, as mild as it looks, there are some elements of traditional religious condition associated in ways to cultural attires. Tinubu is of the Yoruba extraction from the South West while Shetima if from the North and the duo being clad in an outfit of the traditional Igbo Chief, (Fig. 9), is an open show of belongingness as exhibited on the poster, whether they genuinely wore the apparels in photo session or the constituents were craftily seamed together by a Graphics designer, the outward impression is obvious that a piece of material has been put out there as a decoy to attract a political support.

Fig. 9, Tinubu and Shetima in traditional Igbo dress in a poster

Tinubu and Shetima in traditional Igbo dress in a poster

With the candidacy of Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), the stage appears set for a complete cycle of tripartite electoral duel among the three major contenders of APC and PDP, and with the choices naturally coming from the three different zones potent that the rivalry may once again be awakened as to who carry the day at the polls, so for the needed relevance across the divide, Obi like the other political challengers need to be seen to break the somewhat regional barriers by getting relevant in terms of mode of dressing (Fig. 10). In the poster, Shetima the Vice Presidential candidate is seen in his natural northern attire of an embroidered cap and robe to match, the onus of the graphic visual is on Obi who is made to wear borrowed Northern robe. Aside from the other background inscriptions in Hausa which are meant to further attract regional acceptance, many are likely to be seeing Obi in this type of outfit for the first time.

Fig. 10, Peter Obi and his running mate of Labour party in a poster sighted in Katsina

Peter Obi and his running mate of Labour party in a poster sighted in Katsina

In the duel of the avalanche of posters within the Nigeria political space, the instances of the politicians who commissioned the posters in the first place, is as relevant for scrutiny as the Graphic artists who crafted the ideas, perhaps there were enough reasons for the cross-cultural compositions, but the passion with which the ideas were put together on every poster were reliant too on the craftsmanship of the Graphic artists. From a close appraisal of the level of technology now available to designers, the comical and almost unfathomable manners of some of the poster production is a bizarre.  The current experience about hybrid composition, Photoshoping, benefit of real time photographs and touching ups must have been brought to play. In all the posters perused, it is glaring that the compositional basis were adjoined together as there was no single poster where Presidential candidate had real life photos with their running mates.

CONCLUSION

The role of art and the cravings of the society are so inseparable that one is either not able to differentiate the essence of art or classify all as art. Be that as it may, the peculiar political landscape of Nigeria, which is bedecked by a wave of unique design template, festered by indices of the society is an exception demanding professional scrutiny. Graphic Designers are a set of concept producers whose training and the incidence of modern facilities afford them opportunity of unrestricted visual production, but when the constituents of a design template is dictated by elements and principles beyond the ones based on known theory of design, then there is need to open more frontiers in the sociology that make up such a society.

The Nigerian scenario has opened a vista about party politics, culture and cultural diversity and the intent of a harmonisation of personal objectives to be subsumed under a larger societal goal. When Graphic artists are confronted with this kind of design treat that stirs up some elements of convolution between objectivity of design and hypocritical intent of cultural influence, the status of the artists is no more than a puppet who once can snap the rope and still perform some self induced moves.

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