Henry Ekpele Mekole, chief news editor at South West regional station of state broadcaster, CRTV successfully defended his PhD in Conflict Resolution, Friday,15 March 2024 at the University of Buea.
The thesis focused on “The role of the social media in the 2018 presidential election violence in Cameroon”. The examining panel included Prof. Atangcho Nji; Chairperson, Ass. Prof Gerald Messina; Rapporteur 1, Ass. Prof. Julius Che Tita; Rapporteur 2, Prof. Nsoh Christopher; Supervisor, Prof. John Ndefru; Member.
In the research judged as timely, the journalism doyen navigated the influence of the social media in inciting post election violence in Cameroon during the presidential polls of 2018. Highlighting the same fate in upcoming elections if regulatory strategies are not put in place.
“The social media has come to stay as far as the electoral process is concerned. The social media has alot of benefits but at thesame time has alot of challenges in regulating.” Dr. Henry Mekole noted.
Regulation he explained will curb problems like foreign interfering, photoshop, and fake news all wired on the social media. By mobilising substantial resources for the online regulatory institution, ANTIC, Dr. Henry Mekole believes the Cameroon cyber space will be more protected and monitored.
The panel chair, Prof. Atangcho Nji asserted that, the number of users of the social media is increasing exponentially. And the social media has become an influential platform and must be treated with informed decisions as suggested by the research ahead of elections.
“We are expecting elections in 2025. This work is an anticipation of what may happen if policy makers don’t take the relevant measures to avoid what happened in the 2018 post elections.”
With elections in the horizon, the research is considered a whistle blower for election stakeholders to ensure non social media incited violence .