Building Digital Momentum: Progressive Digital Media Summit- Sunday Dare

A Goodwill Message to the Delegates at the Inaugural Progressive Digital Media Summit by Mr. Sunday Dare, CON. August 1, 2025

First, I thank the organizers for recognizing the vital role of digital media in 21st-century communications. Your efforts are crucial in shaping our narrative and fostering progress.

Let us remember that politics is not inherently evil; it works for the majority when visionary leaders take the reins. In President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Renewed Hope Reforms Agenda a bold Vision for Nigeria is unfolding.

This is where you, as digital media pioneers, come in. To design, to tell, to lead the narratives about what is being done. Promises made are being kept.

Imagine just 500 people with smartphones spreading the gospel of Renewed Hope – that's millions of Nigerians who can be impacted. This is the power of digital media.

Programs like NELFUND have directly impacted thousands of Nigerian youth, empowering them to be agents of change. This summit is a prime opportunity to build on that momentum.

DIGITALIZE IT:

Digital Media ecosystem includes any media that uses digital technology, including computers and other electronic devices. Social media is a subset of digital media. Broadly speaking DM encompasses all forms of digital content, such as websites, online videos, streaming services, and even digital versions of traditional media. The AI poses a new challenge b a threat no doubt and we must respond. Fake and deep fake.

The line between online and offline is increasingly blurred. A tweet can spark a protest, a viral video can change public policy, and a comment thread can ignite real-world conflict or solidarity.

Our digital content and interventions must not be limited to just react to online attacks— they must set the pace, frame the debate, and command the digital battlefield

A bit of Recent History:

The lead-up to the 2023 presidential election, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu faced relentless digital attacks across social media platforms. A coordinated network of bots and paid influencer accounts—some on monthly retainers—was mobilized to shape public perception, distort facts, and drive a negative narrative

As the 2027 election cycle approaches, the Tinubu campaign must not be caught unprepared. The President must not be digitally outgunned or bullied in the social media space. We must employ digital technology to ensure narrative dominance, message amplification, and sustained grassroots engagement—at scale and in real time.

WHAT IS REQUIRED:

1.Narrative Control and Trend Engineering: Shape the national conversation by pushing coordinated narratives, setting agenda-driven trends, and dominating comment sections with persuasive, on-message content.

2.Opposition Disinformation Counterforce: Rapidly neutralize fake news, hostile messaging, and coordinated attacks through real-time rebuttals, fact-inspired content, and emotional counter-narratives.

Brand and Reputation Defense: Monitor and defend the President and the party’s digital brand by amplifying positive messaging and flooding negative threads with deflection and redirection strategies.

Develop a Response System:  Respond to breaking events or scandals with a digital first-responder layer that generates sympathetic sentiment, reframes the story, and provides strategic distraction when needed. Silos will not work. Build a network

Conclusion:

Far beyond traditional social media tactics, we must employ digital platforms to dominate information spaces, neutralize opposition narratives, and manufacture digital momentum with precision and believability. In an age where perception shapes power, digital provides the infrastructure to control narrative gravity, engineer consensus, and win the battle of influence—before a single vote is cast.