Social Media and the Management of Ethno-Religious Conflicts: Stakeholders’ Perspectives

This study examines the utilization of social media to manage ethno-religious conflicts in Taraba State, Nigeria with specific attention to the nature of stories on the platforms on ethno-religious conflicts, how they affect the process of conflict management and the opportunities/threats which the platforms portend to conflict management. Pegged on the Technology Acceptance Model, the study adopts in-depth interview and qualitative content analysis of social media posts as research designs. Population comprises stakeholders engaged in managing ethno-religious conflicts in the state- traditional rulers, religious leaders, leaders of socio-cultural associations and information personnel of security agencies. Eleven respondents have been purposively sampled based on their perceived relevance to conflict management. Facebook posts on conflicts in the state have also been qualitatively analysed to back up the interviews. Findings reveal that social media possess both positive and negative traits in terms of conflict management, and some of the stakeholders utilize them for conflict management while some do not, due largely to their perceptions of the platforms. The study demonstrates that social media have potentials that are vital to conflict management, concomitant with numerous defects, hence, caution must be applied with mitigation strategies adopted while utilizing them to manage conflicts for more impact.


INTRODUCTION
In this study, we appraise the role of social media in the task of managing ethno-religious conflicts in Taraba State from the viewpoint of the stakeholders.
The major preoccupation of the study is to examine among other things, the nature of stories on social media platforms on ethno-religious conflicts in Taraba State and their impact on the process of managing the conflicts, the extent to which stakeholders utilize the platforms to manage conflicts in the state, and the opportunities/threats which they portend to the process of conflict management in the state. This is particularly important for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, there seems to be a dearth of adequate research documentation at the grassroots levels on the role of social media for managing ethno-religious conflicts (see Rohwerder, 2015) even though there are strong indications that the various platforms might be quite instrumental to the process. Next is the question of stakeholders' perception, knowledge and awareness of social media's potentials towards managing diversity-induced conflicts at the grassroots. Little research exploitation has been done in this regard at the moment. Put together, these have created a gap that serves as motivation for the current study, which gives a deeper perspective on the use of social media by stakeholders for managing conflicts at the local level, using Taraba State as a case study.
The study is structured into five distinct but interrelated parts: the first part contains a brief background to ethno-religious conflicts in Taraba State, the problem statement and research objectives. The second part contains a brief insight into existing literatures and the theoretical framework upon which the study is hinged. Next is a brief description of the research methodology, and then follows findings and discussion. The last part of the study contains the conclusion and recommendations of the research.

Context: the Gory Tale of Ethno-religious Conflicts in Taraba State
The wave of violent conflicts that erupts in Taraba State in recent years is alarming. Although the state has experienced varying degrees of violent conflicts since its creation in August 1991, never has the intensity of the conflicts reached the present status. Today, violent conflicts in Taraba State have become usual occurrences. These violent conflicts take the coloration of ethnic, religious or 234 | T h e J o u r n a l o f S o c i e t y a n d M e d i a 6 ( 1 ) occupational conflicts. Whichever form they take; the damage to lives and property is usually enormous, as Yuguda and Goni (2013) contends: Taraba State provides one of the best examples or case studies of ethnoreligious conflicts…it has become a permanent flashpoint of one form of ethno-religious conflict or another. These are characterized by genocidal attacks, maiming and killings of several persons, loss of business investments and properties worth several billions of Naira (p. 1).
Composed of over eighty (80) ethnic groups belonging to several religious sects, Taraba State has, since its creation, remained the most highly multi-ethnic of all the 36 federating states in Nigeria, a fact that makes it volatile, and a consequence of which it has been grappling and trying to cope with the problem of ethnicity on the one hand, and the problem of ethno-religious conflicts on the other (Yuguda and Goni, 2013). It is no exaggeration that hardly a year comes and goes without the state experiencing one form of ethno-religious conflict or the other. For instance, from 2010 to date, Taraba State has experienced among an endless array of other conflicts, the following ethno-religious crises: Tiv vs. Kuteb crisis in Takum 2012, Tiv vs. Fulani crisis in Takum 2012, Wukari (Christian vs. Muslim) crises in 2013 (Yuguda and Goni, 2013), the farmers vs. herders crisis that spread across the central and southern senatorial zones of the state from 2014-2015 (Adamu and Ben, 2015a;Adamu and Ben, 2015b Bivian, Agbese, Ajobe, and Isa, 2017;Ayodele, 2017;Nkom, 2017 andFulani, 2017). Most recent on the list are the Fulani vs. Yandang crisis in Lau local government 2017/2018, Fulani vs. Kuteb in Ussa 2018 and Tiv vs. Jukun in Wukari 2019 among a myriad of others too many to mention here.
These crises are but outcomes of inter-group relations and cohabitation, and are amplified by underlying structural, systemic and environmental forces such as the competition over resources-land, water and power, lack of tolerance, youth restiveness and harsh economic conditions, climate change and political factors. The effects of these crises have also been adequately documented in S a n d a : S o c i a l M e d i a a n d t h e M a n a g e m e n t o f E t h n o -R e l i g i o u s C o n f l i c t s : S t a k e h o l d e r s ' P e r s p e c t i v e s | 235 academic literature, and they range from socio-politically inclined effects to economic effects (Lucas, Norde, Wanapia, and Lenshie, 2018;Orounye, 2012;Adamu and Ben, 2015a). Since the state is chiefly agrarian and relies almost solely on agriculture as a source of internally generated revenue, the effects of these crises on the socio-economic wellbeing of residents can best be imagined. It is outside the scope of this study, however, to appraise these effects in details.
Worthy to note at this point is the fact that there is no formal structure on ground for managing ethno-religious conflicts in the state at the moment, but government and concerned agencies usually rely on the efforts of security agencies and stakeholders-basically, leaders of religious institutions, traditional rulers, leaders of socio-cultural blocks among other stakeholders to broker peace anytime a violent conflict erupts in the state. This they do through organizing communal dialogues, instituting commissions of enquiry/fact-finding missions, organizing intensive peace advocacy campaigns and sensitizations, and mediating between their subjects and state/governmental agencies among a litany of other responsibilities. Obviously, the prevalence of these crises has left a herculean task on their shoulders in the desperate move to effectively contend the crises which are often times extremely destructive and genocidal in nature.

Statement of the Problem
Despite the fact that social media have become popular platforms of public discourse in recent times, a search in the literature indicates that the role which they play in conflict management specifically has not been thoroughly investigated and documented. Rohwerder (2015:1) observes in this regard that: "the evidence base for this research area is weak despite much enthusiasm over the potential impact social media could have. Very little analysis of the impact of social media on conflict has been carried out." This study sets to fill this gap, and investigates the extent to which stakeholders utilize the platforms for conflict management in Taraba State, the benefits that can be derived from using the platforms and the threats which they portend to the process of managing conflicts in the state. More precisely, this study sets to appraise the role which social media play in terms of conflict management, most especially in diverse and highly multiethnic societies. A mixed method comprising stakeholders' perspectives and 236 | T h e J o u r n a l o f S o c i e t y a n d M e d i a 6 ( 1 ) manifest content of posts on social media platforms will be deployed in this regard to achieve the aim of the study.

Aim and Objectives of the Study
This study aims to examine the role of social media in managing ethnoreligious conflicts in Taraba  The expanded information in public sphere and the quantum of information at the disposal of the citizens are making it imperative for those interested in public opinion to change their strategies at influencing it. Many politicians and governments are now moving fast to imbibe the new media and even the social media to get their messages across to the people. The traditional media are no longer enough to do this (p.201). What this portends is that social media have strong audience base which facilitate opinion formation. This, when effectively utilized, serves the individual interested in moulding public opinion better. Little wonder, politicians court them as formidable channels of reaching out to the masses. With regards to conflict reporting, White (2016:40) acknowledges that courtesy of social media, the world has become more connected and people are closer to the frontlines in recent times, as "media-savvy terrorists stalk the social networks and battalions of government spin doctors are deployed across the internet" to feed the masses with information in times of conflict. White's position suggests that both government and terrorists imbibe the social media to execute emotional wars in times of conflicts with the view to woo support. Sacco and Bossio (2015) discover in their study, that social media platforms usually increase the volume of information to the masses during conflict situations. They argue that social media break official barrier to information censorship and allow for plurality of voices (other than the usually doctored official voice) in times of conflict. In their words: The increased number of available voices with different experiences can support interaction between people and the representation of pluralized identities in the media. Furthermore, news narratives do not have to rely on the voices of 'officials' or elites. Thus, social media might help to overcome in part the effects of military and government restriction of information during wartime (p.66).
Sacco and Bossio who used the Arab Spring as a case study argue further that the immediacy feature of the social media made them potent instruments in the hands of protesters and citizen journalists. Thus, social media became the primary source of breaking news about the protests to the world. Also, the study discovers that the use of social media helped to prevent stereotypes of news subjects. This factor rendered credibility to the reports on the movement. The Arab Spring could not be stereotyped "because people saw the protesters on social media; viewers saw that the protesters were people like them, thus, the content that spread on social media has a positive impact on people who are not directly affected by these events" (p.67).
Indeed, social media have become major forums for discussing ethnoreligious conflicts in contemporary Nigeria recently, evidenced in the fact that the 238 | T h e J o u r n a l o f S o c i e t y a n d M e d i a 6 ( 1 ) various platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and WhatsApp etc. are usually agog with videos, pictures and stories anytime a violent conflict erupts.
The platforms have become the commonest channels of breaking news on conflicts, carrying textual, pictorial and audio-visual messages on conflicts.
Concomitant with this are the numerous challenges that confront the practice, with the potential of weighing down or possibly, overshadowing the positive feats which they offer to conflict reporting and discourse if not properly checked.
Abubakar and Abdulwaheed (2018) capture this when they note that: Lack of moderation/regulation is a major concern as far as the new media and conflict discourse in Nigeria are concerned. Professionalism is another serious challenge of the new media in terms of conflict reporting. Citizen journalists, who are not trained in the art of reporting, abuse the platform grossly by presenting one sided version to the stories. Most citizen reporters tell stories from their points of view, and do not care to balance the stories. The consequence of this act is that several gullible minds that rely on the platforms for information and do not fact-check are often mislead to believing the one-sided version of the reports. Closely related to this is the wide-scale spread of deliberate falsehood, mischief and outright lies on the platform to mislead the masses (p. 28).
Academic literature corroborates this worry, as other scholars also fear that the excessive freedom that characterize the new media is one of the factors that render them dysfunctional when it comes to conflict discourse/reporting. Takwa (2017) observes in this direction, thus: The largely unregulated social media whose access is coming closer to the population on a daily basis, thanks to the availability of mobile apps and android phones is now an opportunity for people to conceal identities and express sentiments, hate statements, and at times insults that would have been censored in the traditional media outlets. These new media outlets eschew the norms and the ethics of reporting, and have largely contributed to the deepening of societal cleavages. They largely ignored the sensitivities in society (p. 10).
This is the disturbing aspect of social media, over which experts have continued to express worry ever since its various platforms started gaining wider acceptance in the society. Dauda, Abubakar and Lawan (2017:251) made a similar observation when they note that: "in a diverse society like Nigeria, social media is increasingly being deployed as a tool for complicating and fuelling conflict discourses and championing retrogressive courses, especially among its youth S a n d a : S o c i a l M e d i a a n d t h e M a n a g e m e n t o f E t h n o -R e l i g i o u s C o n f l i c t s : S t a k e h o l d e r s ' P e r s p e c t i v e s | 239 population". This position needs to be probed deeply. In a society where social media platforms have become popular culture, and with the concomitant eruption of violent conflicts every now and then, it is important to investigate the stake which social media has in the management of conflicts. One does not require dedicated research effort to discover that there is an exponential rise in the number of people patronizing the various social media platforms in Taraba state. How this impacts the process of conflict management in the state is the concern of this study on one hand. On the other hand is the quest to investigate how stakeholders in the state utilize the platforms to manage the ethno-religious conflicts in the state.

Theoretical Framework
This research is anchored on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM  (Davis, 1985;Mugo, Njagi, Chemwei and Motanya, 2017). According to Davis (1985), the model assumes that a potential user's overall attitude toward using a given system or technology is hypothesized to be a major determinant of whether or not he actually uses it. Attitude toward use, in turn, is a function of two major beliefs: criterion that is specific with respect to target (specified system), action (actual direct usage) and context (in person's job), and non-specific with respect to time frame (Davis 1985).
Attitude which is also a key component of the model, on the other hand, refers to the degree of evaluative affect that an individual associates with using the target system in his or her job. Perceived usefulness is defined in the model as the degree to which an individual believes that using a particular system would enhance his or her job performance, while perceived ease of use is defined as the degree to which an individual believes that using a particular system would be free of physical and mental effort (Davis, 1985:26). Davis emphasizes that perceived ease of use has a significant direct effect on perceived usefulness, since, all else being equal, a system which is easier to use will result in increased job performance (i.e., greater usefulness) for the user. senatorial districts that make up the state), three (3) religious leaders two (2) spokespersons of security agencies, and three (3)

RESULT AND DISCUSSION
Data from the field interviews sessions are discussed in this section in relation to the research objectives as follows: Objective One: Nature of Social Media Stories and their Impact on the

Management of Ethno-Religious Conflicts in Taraba State
Data in the study has revealed that social media have two faces in terms of conflict management. These faces are: the positive and negative traits of the platforms.

Positive Aspect of Social Media Stories in Relation to Conflict Management
Participants acknowledge the positive feats which social media offer to the process of conflict management in the state. One of the issues that have earned the platforms commendation of participants is the fact that they have expanded the frontiers of communication among the masses generally, and in terms of conflict reporting specifically. A participant notes that: Through social media, information dissemination is much faster than it used to be before. Nowadays, news go around in the speed of light. Before you know it, what has happened in a very remote place becomes widespread news, national and international. What in those days would have taken quite a while before you get to know about it. So I think at that level, one is happy that our growth in technology is increasing by the day and is helping because information is important in life (IDI with the Catholic Bishop of Jalingo, July 2018).
This sentiment is shared by other interviewees too, who feel that social media portend a lot of good, as they facilitate rapid spread of information among the masses. Participants contend that social media empower citizens to report events that happen even in remote areas with much ease. Another positive aspect of social media as advanced by participants is their ability to provide alternative voices in times of conflict. This way, participants feel social media have broken the hegemony that characterize the mainstream media outfits. Social media break this hegemony, and enable for true decentralization of the media space, leading to pluralism and diversity of views, voices and opinions.
Participants also note the ability of social media to enable users raise alarm on impending conflict eruptions and attacks. The contention here is that social

Negative Aspect of Social Media in Relation to Conflict Management
In spite of the positive feats which social media are renowned for, participants also decry the negative traits which they harbour in terms of conflict

Screenshots of Facebook posts on ethno-religious conflicts in Taraba State by residents.
Participants accuse social media of heightening tension during conflict situations: It will end up creating more tension instead of dowsing it, especially if the news that is passed around is not true. So it will rather heighten the tension and then the process of resolution will become long and tedious… once that news is passed across, no matter the best of intentions, the process of resolution becomes tedious and slowed down (IDI with the Catholic Bishop of Jalingo Diocese, July 2018).

S a n d a : S o c i a l M e d i a a n d t h e M a n a g e m e n t o f E t h n o -R e l i g i o u s C o n f l i c t s : S t a k e h o l d e r s ' P e r s p e c t i v e s | 245
The issue of exaggerating crisis reports on the platforms also plays up, where

Figure 3. Pictures of mass burial and corpses of victims of communal crisis in Lau
LGA (extracted from the Facebook wall of Marafa Paul Komu)

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Participants also observe that the use of unrepresentative pictures in reporting conflicts is a prevalent trend on the platforms, as sometimes the videos, pictures or audio clips that are used on conflict stories are doctored to suit the mischievous purpose of the publisher. A participant blames some: Bad elements that don't want peace, and go online to post unreliable facts, images, and in fact, sometimes images of some certain things that happen elsewhere, they do bring them and post on social media, and tag them as something happening within their area… Let me give you an instance with the recent crises in Gembu, where a lot of pictures were posted, some people even tried to play online videos, describing the act as a genocide mission perpetrated by some people. This brought misunderstanding, and we had to come in and inform the general public to make sure they verify the information they post out so that we can have a peaceful society (IDI with the PPRO, NPF Taraba Command, June 2018).

Ethno-Religious Conflicts in Taraba State
Evidence in the study indicates that some of the stakeholders that participate in the study utilize social media to manage ethno-religious conflicts in the state, while some do not. This utilization, in line with the assumptions of the Technology Acceptance Model, is due to the perceived benefits and ease of use of the platforms. The reverse equally is the case with participants that do not utilize the platforms. Among the institutions that utilize the platforms to manage ethnoreligious conflicts in the state include the Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and all the representatives of socio-cultural groups that participated in the study. A participant who admits using the platforms for conflict management confirms that: In as much as the masses are using the various social media platforms, we thought it is necessary to also reach out to the general public through the same social media. In this regard, the Taraba Command has its own Facebook page tagged NPF Taraba Command that we use to post our own updates to enlighten the general public, tell them what they are expected to do, and even give our numbers there so that they can easily get across to us and feed us back on the posts… So we have been using social media platforms. We also have accounts on the other platforms such as Instagram, WhatsApp and what have you to aid our activities. We use these platforms to enhance our interactions with the masses in the state (IDI with the PPRO, NPF, Taraba Command, June 2018).

Screenshots of post on the Police and Miyetti Allah Facebook pages in Taraba State
On the other side of the divide are stakeholders and institutions that do not utilize social media for the purpose of conflict management. Evidence indicates that such institutions are skeptical of imbibing the platforms, given, perhaps, the abuses that they have been subjected to. A participant states that: CAN Taraba State does not operate any social media be it Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter except Email. We take proactive measures and with God on our side we are able to manage crises which would have caused more havoc … Social media stories are based on prodded and most of the audience are passive and gullible to accept every bit of social media stories, so therefore, CAN Taraba State chapter don't rely on social media to solve any problem, rather, we implore the use of telephone and electronic media (television and radio) (IDI with the Ag. Chairman, CAN Taraba State Chapter, July 2018).
Obviously, the perception of the participant above affects his, and by extension, his institution's disposition to social media as a tool for conflict management in the state. Another participant shares this sentiment, and equally expresses his fears on the abuses that have come to characterize the platforms when he states that: I have made it personally an issue especially with my clergy to never be part of those who are rumour mongers, who spread false information. So if you are using the social media, please use it responsibly, for what is true and you are sure it is authentic … As a diocese, we have our media outfitthe Catholic media outfit which we use only to propagate the Christian faith, the Catholic faith on radio, on television and on print media (IDI with the Catholic Bishop of Jalingo, July 2018). Another participant discloses that a Facebook page belonging to the traditional council (which he represents) was opened, but the abuses it was subjected to, forced him to shut down the group. He states that politicians and other ethnic and religious bigots hijacked the group, and within a short period of time, it became chaotic and overheated, and the best thing to do under the circumstance was to shut it down. Yet, another participant reveals that plans are on ground to ensure that all the traditional councils in the state have their social media platforms that will enhance their communication with subjects, most especially, in times of conflict: We are thinking of devising measures to make traditional councils visible on the social media, whether collectively or individually, as Emirate Councils or Chiefdoms, to have our own platforms/websites, so that at the end, one will know that such a story is coming out from either Muri Emirate Council, or from Wukari Traditional Council, or from Sardauna Traditional Council. I think if traditional institutions will adopt this measure, it will minimize the negative effects they have at the moment in the state … (but for now), as far as we are concerned, we have no platforms on the social media to counter or balance any information or misinformation that people share on the various platforms (IDI with the Galadima of Muri, July 2018).
The effort to ensure visibility of traditional institutions on social media will be worthwhile in many ways if actualized. Apart from enhancing the voices of those traditional institutions, it will also increase the volume of healthy information in the public sphere, as Pate (2015, p.33)

Objective Three: Opportunities of social media for managing ethno-religious conflicts in Taraba State
Evidence in the study has established that social media offers several opportunities to stakeholders engaged in managing ethno-religious conflicts in the state. These cut across ease and speed in passing information to the masses, raising alarm on conflict eruption and breakdown of law and order, provision of avenue to correct wrong information, provision of avenue for peace advocacy and mobilization of the masses to conduct themselves peacefully among other benefits.
A participant notes that: The advantage of it is that as soon as something happens, immediately, people will post it. We will see it all over the country, including those that will solve the problem… It makes it very quickly for you to know what is happening and helps to create awareness on the outbreak of conflicts (IDI with the P.A. Media and Public Affairs to the Aku-Uka).
A participant extends this trend further when he notes that social media posts alert concerned authorities on the outbreak of conflict. According to him: We derive a lot of benefits from the platforms because they provide us with the avenue where we can quickly reach out to the government of the day, despite the abuses. Some of the government officials are on the social media and follow the issues to their root causes. Let me give you an instance, when the crisis in Katibu, Lau Local Government Area happened, we saw it on the social media. Within a short period of time, many of the users started calling us to confirm whether it is true. We told them it is true. Even when an incident is being exaggerated, we use We derive so many benefits from using social media because at times, people don't actually follow our activities because they don't have time to be following around and checking some of our achievements. So through the use of the social media, we post our achievements. If we parade suspects, recover arms and apprehend offenders etc., we compile all those things and post on the social media. And some people who find it difficult again to come face-to-face and share reliable information, intelligence information with us, use the same social media to feed us with information (IDI with the PPRO, NPF Taraba Command, June 2018).
Apparently, social media aid the participant in discharging his official duties as they bother on maintaining law and order, and securing the lives and property of residents in the state. The interesting part of it is that social media avail the masses the opportunity to lodge genuine complains which, according to him, are duly accessed, and if need be, acted upon: Even yesterday, somebody wrote a letter. He called it 'an open letter to the Commissioner of Police' in respect to security measures that needed to be adopted so that we can be able to curtail some pockets of gangsterism being perpetrated by some youths. We were able to see it, we got it printed out and we actually liked it because it made us know what is expected of us and the recommendations for the general public with regard to our activities. So in as much as it has a bad side as I told you, we are equally benefiting from it, as such, we encourage people to keep on giving us their own views through social media so that we can be able to perform our duties as expected (IDI with the PPRO, NPF Taraba Command, June 2018).
Another opportunity which the platforms offer to stakeholders is the avenue to counteract false information and clear misconceptions in times of conflict. A participant notes that: I use the social media to counter any negative impression on the same platforms. For instance, I was able to post particular information on the social media to counter what an opponent wrote criticizing some of our stakeholders negatively, and calling them negative names. In order to wipe off this impression from the public, we countered it through the same social media. (IDI with the President, Mambilla Progressive Cultural Association, August 2018). 252 | T h e J o u r n a l o f S o c i e t y a n d M e d i a 6 ( 1 )

Ethno-Religious Conflicts in Taraba State
In spite of the opportunities that social media offer to stakeholders involved in the process of conflict management in the state, the platforms possess certain attributes that complicate the task of conflict management as well. Some of these practices have been already discussed previously under the negative aspect of social media in terms of managing ethno-religious conflicts. Briefly, these practices include publishing of false and misleading information about ethnoreligious conflicts, using gruesome and horrible pictures of victims to complement stories of ethno-religious conflicts, using old pictures/video/audio clips to complement stories on current conflicts, or sometimes, pictures of what happened in other parts of the country, making highly incisive statements on the platforms to pitch one ethnic group or religion against the other among several other ill practices as discussed in the previous sections. These practices, as earlier discussed, thrive on the platforms due principally to their porous and unregulated nature, and portend adverse consequences on the struggle to effectively mitigate ethno-religious conflicts in the state.

CONCLUSION
Based on the findings, the study concludes that in terms of conflict management, social media have a lot to offer, and are quite instrumental to the process peace building. The process of conflict management can be truly enhanced by social media if their numerous potentials are harnessed and effectively incorporated in the process. This study concludes that a strategic, purposeful and careful utilization of the platforms by stakeholders will benefit the process of conflict management in no small degree. Effort to incorporate the platforms in the process of conflict management must, however, take into consideration their deficiencies, hence, there is need to device adequate measures to mitigate the threats that they harbour. It is imperative to submit that for social media to effectively complement the process of conflict management in the state, geographical specific issues and cultural sensitivities must be acknowledged and mainstreamed into the process for more impact. Recommendations .Based on the findings and foregoing discussion, the study recommends as follows: Stakeholders should imbibe the social media platforms for conflict management in the state to enable them reach out effectively to the masses with information that would facilitate the process; Security agencies should cash into the existing legal framework to instil some sanity on the platforms where need be in the interest of overall societal peace and harmonious coexistence. Here, individuals who post highly incisive posts could be asked to pull them down or face prosecution; Orientation and/or sensitization of individuals on the effects of using the social media negatively on society must be intensified by concerned agencies/institutions such as the National Orientation Agency to orient the masses on the implications of abusing the platforms in terms of conflict management; Fact-checking is highly recommended. This will enable individual consumers of social media contents to differentiate between factual and fake news on the platforms; Finally, it is pertinent that social media users conduct themselves responsibly and use the platforms in such a way that they would help to build a peaceful society.