Social Media Framing of Ethnic Labelling on Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour’s Candidacy in the 2023 Lagos State Gubernatorial Election

Ethnicity remains a decisive undercurrent in Nigerian electoral politics, particularly in cosmopolitan states like Lagos, where identity, belonging and legitimacy shape political contestation. The Lagos State 2023 gubernatorial election generated sustained social media discourse around the candidacy of Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, whose identity became the subject of deliberate ethnic labelling centred on indigeneity, belonging and legitimacy. This study investigated social media framing of that ethnic labelling, examining the frames through which ethnic labels were constructed around his candidacy and identifying the dominant narratives underlying this labelling. Anchored in Entman’s (1993) framing theory, the study adopted a qualitative approach, combining qualitative content analysis and Critical Discourse Analysis. Data were drawn from X (formerly Twitter) through a keyword-based search that returned 1,122 publicly available tweets, from which 1,000 were screened against inclusion and exclusion criteria to arrive at a final analytical sample of 200 tweets. Ethnic labels such as non-indigene, outsider, stranger, settler and Igbo candidate were organised around three dominant frames: an outsider frame, an ownership frame and an indigeneity frame. These frames in turn fed three overarching narratives centred on Lagos ownership, indigenous belonging and political legitimacy. Social media constituted a significant arena for negotiating identity and political legitimacy during the election. The study established the need for issue-based political communication and civic engagement that promotes democratic inclusion and political tolerance.

Keywords: Social Media, Ethnic Labelling, Political Communication, 2023 Lagos Governorship Election, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, Framing Theory

Political Communication

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