Influence of Emilokan Song on Perception of Tinubu in The 2023 General Elections in Lagos State, Nigeria

Emilokan is a propaganda song used to smear the image of Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, now president of Nigeria during the buildup to the 2023 general elections. The song portrayed him as an unhealthy political desperado campaigning for a position he did not have physical and mental capacity to manage. Several studies have been conducted on fake news and propaganda especially on music for political propaganda. However, there are scant attention paid to Emilokan song as one of the major propaganda tools used in the 2023 presidential election in Nigeria. Therefore, this study seeks to examine the influence of Emilokan on the electoral perception of Tinubu in Lagos, Nigeria during the 2023 presidential election with a view to determining the Lagos electorate’s level of exposure to the song and its influence on their electoral actions. Selectivity theory served as the framework. Survey method was adopted for the study where a multistage sampling technique was employed to stratify the Lagos electorate into senatorial districts before two local government areas were randomly selected from the frame. Consequently, 606 respondents were disproportionately sampled for the study. A close ended questionnaire was used in eliciting the data which was analysed using descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages, and mean scores with SPSS version 26. The findings revealed that Lagos electorate were significantly exposed to the Emilokan song during the 2023 elections and it significantly influenced their actions during the election. Consequently, political parties and their candidates should pay attention to the influence of music on electorate' perception and use it as a tool to influence votes to their advantage. Received: 20 January 2026 / Accepted: 28 February 2026 / Published: March 2026