Textual Analysis of Acceptance and Declaration Speeches of Selected 2023 Presidential Candidates in Nigeria

Abstract

Language remains a great asset to its users; its indispensability in politics is quite remarkable. This study examined how the English language has been utilized by 2023 presidential candidates in Nigeria. The researcher examined the acceptance and declaration speeches  of selected 2023 presidential candidates-Ahmed Tinubu of All Progressive Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar of Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), and Peter Obi of Labour Party (LP). The study was anchored on the theoretical framework of cohesion. However,  the approach adopted was a comparative study. The researcher compared how the three candidates used the English language in the  presentation of their acceptance and declaration speeches to find out the cohesive devices that were employed to assure the people that  their multifarious problems would be solved. The researcher identified the grammatical, lexical and clausal relations in consonance with  their functions/roles in the political speeches examined. The present research was deemed necessary as the researcher discovered that  nobody (as of the time of this study) has done a textual analysis of the acceptance speeches of these presidential candidates. It was  found that the three candidates used cohesive devices as their campaign tools. The researcher also found out that clausal relations  employed in the texts were internal procedures and interpretations which helped the speakers in achieving both registeral and generic   coherence.