Picture this: You open your phone to check in with friends, and instead you’re greeted by a barrage of political ads. Some are smooth and hopeful, promising change and a brighter future. Others are sharp and angry, warning that the world will end if you vote the wrong way. They come at you from every direction—before videos, in sponsored posts, as memes, in your text messages, even in your mail. And as Election Day creeps closer, the flood gets worse. Experts say this is no accident. Political advertisements are deliberately flooding social media feeds and competing for voters’ attention, and…

Abuja, Nigeria — A hall filled with the nation’s most prominent public relations practitioners buzzed with an uncommon energy, as conversations drifted between the familiar challenges of perception management and a strange, new vocabulary of algorithms, machine learning, and digital truth-seeking. At the center of this intellectual storm sat a representative of one of the most consequential yet scrutinized institutions in the country: the Nigeria Customs Service. Deputy Comptroller Abdullahi Maiwada, the official spokesperson of the NCS, had come to speak on behalf of the Comptroller-General, Bashir Adeniyi. The occasion was the 2026 edition of the Nigerian Council of the…