This article is published in AL-QALAM Journal of Languages and Literary Studies, Vol. 1, Issue 1, December 2025 (A Publication of the Department of English and Literature, Federal University Gusau, Zamfara State, Nigeria)
RHETORIC AS A FORM OF SOCIAL
ENGINEERING IN POLITICAL DISCOURSE: A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF METAPHORS
IN SELECTED 2023 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN SPEECHES
By
Mu'awiyya
Garba
Federal
Government Girls’ College (FGGC) Gusau, Zamfara State, Nigeria
&
Surayya
Ado Saleh
Federal Government Girls’ College
(FGGC) Gusau, Zamfara State, Nigeria
Corresponding Author’s email &
Phone No: garbamuawiyya@gmail.com
+2347064278390
Abstract
The use of language in 2023 presidential aspirants’ campaign
speeches forms the core of the study. This paper is aimed at identifying the
use of rhetoric in presidential campaign speeches of 2023 elections by Rabiu
Musa Kwankwaso of NNPP, Bola Ahmad Tinubu of APC, Atiku Abubakar of PDP and
Peter Obi of LP. With metaphor as an important weapon in rhetoric, the study is
set to analyse the conceptual metaphors and their significance in making appeal
to the audiences’ emotion and decision-making faculty. It is a qualitative research design. The data was
collected through online television channels (Channels Television, Vanguard
News and Premium Times), library and internet searches. Norman Fairclough's
three-tier model of Critical Discourse Analysis, Discourse Practice, is
applied. Discourse Practice comprises text
production, text distribution and text consumption. In the process of text
production, the writer or speaker encodes certain ideas and ideologies in the text just as observed in the referent campaign speeches of Bola Ahmad
Tinubu, Kwankwaso, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi. Based on that, the audience are well identified. The level of text
interpretation gives room for the audience to decode the meaning according to
their beliefs, knowledge and previous experience. The text, thus, might shape
or reshape the audience’s views and beliefs. Furthermore, Aristotle's three
rhetorical appeals, ethos, pathos and logos, were employed. This gives room for
analysis of rhetors’ moral credibility, appeal to the audiences’ emotion and
logical reasoning. In addition, Lakoff’s and Johnson’s (1980) Conceptual
Metaphor Theory is employed in the analysis of different shades of metaphor in
the referent campaign speeches. The research findings reveal that all the four
main actors of 2023 Nigerian Presidential Elections employed rhetoric in their
campaign speeches by applying different conceptual metaphors such as, metaphor
of economic restructuring, irresponsibility, access to education, employment
etc. The research concludes that rhetoric is a persuasive tool used in
political discourse as observed in the referent campaign speeches and metaphor
is a powerful tool of persuasion used by politicians to express self, shorten
the distance between they and their audience as well as communicate their
ideologies in expressible means.
Keywords:
Influence, Persuasion, Rhetoric, Metaphor
Introduction
The term ‘rhetoric’ in human discourse, is as old as man himself.
Over the years, rhetoric has been a human mechanism of influencing someone’s
behaviour thereby making them behave in a desired manner. It is one of the
prime forms of social engineering. Social engineering was first used by J.C van
Marken (1894) as one’s ability to manipulate others and influence their
decision-making process. In Nigerian political context, social engineering
becomes a tool usually deployed for political gains. Politicians use this tool
right from the day they articulate their interest to contest up to the time
they assume power. It has been a norm among them. So, the magic fused in
rhetoric as a form of social engineering is hardly resisted by active
listeners.
Mark Anthony’s
speech delivered after Julius Caesar’s conspired assassination is an instance
of rhetoric in literary texts. His moral credibility (ethos) makes him a
trusted figure. His appeal to the audience’s emotion (pathos) arouses them in
such a way they label all those conspirators as enemies of Rome. The logical
aspect of the speech ‘logos’, appeals to the audience’s sense of judgement that
what Anthony says is true. The use of rhetoric
amongst Nigerian politicians is as inevitable as heaving a breath. As far as
democracy is concerned, rhetoric becomes a major tool of manipulation applied
before, during and after election just to instill some hopes
among the teeming electorate as well as hook them to a politician’s desire. This, as always used
by the politicians, has worked either for or against the citizens’ interests.
And because of rhetorical power of manipulation, sometimes citizens vote for
candidates who are good at it despite their questionable records than those who
are not good at it. What is somewhat astonishing is the fact that majority of
the citizens do not still steer clear of this manipulative tool as it renders
them rueful after the election. A close example of rhetorical power is
epitomised in Muhammadu Buhari’s campaigns against the former president, Dr
Goodluck Jonathan. The former used rhetoric as a defence mechanism against his
opponents ranging from General Olusegun Obansanjo to Goodluck Jonathan. Because
of Muhammad Buhari’s moral credibility (ethos), Nigerians anticipated a good, if
not excellent, turn of events when Muhammad Buhari became the President of
Nigeria. His appeal to Nigerian people’s emotion (pathos) made him a saint-like
and desired by all. Furthermore, his logical appeal (logos) to Nigerians earned
him the status of being a trustworthy (Baba Buhari Mai Gaskiya). In a nutshell,
what the electorates expected after his swearing-in was an earthly-paradise in
Nigeria. However, the assumptions that the citizens had were proven inaccurate
and out of place when there was hike in prices of all items in the country
(Acropolis Athens Greece Antique Old Vintage, 2019).
In 2023
election campaigns, there was recorded a number of rhetoric in the presidential
aspirants’ speeches and all that was used to convince the citizens as well as
assure them that the twist of fate in the country would be over if any of them
was elected as the president in the country. The right rhetorical tool used by
the referent politicians is metaphor as it is regarded the most influential
weapon of persuasion. (Charteris-Black, 2011).
Metaphor as a
figure of association performs a mnemonic function as it helps a writer or a
speaker remember some information better. It is further used as a text
generating tool. The text generating aspects of metaphor denote its ability to
motivate a listener and generate further explanation. It is widely used as a form of language play
in works of art. In folklore, there was a form in which metaphors played a
leading role (Bozorova, Maqsudova & Makhsuda, 2022).
Theoretical Framework
In this paper, Fairclough's three-tier
model of Critical Discourse Analysis, Discourse Practice, is applied. Discourse
Practice comprises three
essential steps__ text production, text distribution and
text consumption. In the process of text production, the writer or speaker encodes
certain ideas and ideologies in the text just as observed in the referent campaign speeches of Bola Ahmad
Tinubu, Kwankwaso, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi. Proceeding into that, the audience is well
identified. In the level of text interpretation, the audience decode the
meaning according to their beliefs, knowledge and previous experience. The
text, thus, might shape or reshape the audience’s views and beliefs. For
analysis of the data, George Lakoff’s and Mark Johnson’s (1980) Conceptual
Metaphor Theory is applied. This facilitates analysis of shades of conceptual
metaphor evident in the referent campaign speeches. This is to say that as
users of language, we understand abstract concepts in terms of more concrete
concepts directly compared to them. The theory is based on the notion that
metaphors are not just linguistic devices rather they are the foundation of our
thoughts and action significant in shaping our understanding of the world
around us and as they influence the way we behave. Notable examples of the
theory include ‘LOVE IS WAR,’ ‘TIME IS MONEY,’ and ‘LOVE IS A JOURNEY’. In the above examples, love is conceptualised as war. The idea
expressed is that love requires physical and mental readiness before one
embarks on it. Furthermore, since love is conceptualised as war, tendency is
that one would either emerge victorious or be defeated in it in case of
heartbreak. The second example by Lakoff conceptualises time with money. By
observing the tendency of money as it is spent in a properly utilised manner or
lavished way, time is also the same in its management. The third example
conceptualises love with a journey with the implication that the relationship
is stalled, that the lovers cannot keep going the way they have been going from
the beginning, that they must turn against each other one day or even abandon
the relationship altogether. This is not an isolated case. English has many
everyday expressions that are based on a conceptualization of love as a
journey, and they are used not just for talking about love, but for reasoning
about it as well. By applying
this theory, various metaphors used persuasively by the referent political
activists such as metaphor of beauty and hospitality, metaphor of unity,
metaphor of university autonomy, appeal as a metaphorical expression etc. are
analysed.
The Concept of Rhetoric
The word ‘rhetoric’ derives from the Greek word, ‘rhetorikos’,
which means ‘oratory. Rhetoric is commonly used in modern day discourse within
politics, law and advertisement. Its origins can be traced back to ancient
Greece with the rise of democracy. As politicians began running for office,
this technique of persuasive speech became a craft at gaining support for a
politician (DeGuzman, 2025). This is to say that in political discourse, a
formal exchange of concepts and ideas, speakers use rhetoric to explain their
political or ideological positions. This is further utilised to gain support
from a group of audience. Rhetoric manifests in verbal and written
communication intended to persuade, inform or motivate a group of audience.
Rhetoric appeals to a person’s logic and emotions mainly to support the
speaker’s intended purpose.
Rhetorical Appeals
In their attempt to persuade and appeal to their audience’s emotion
and decision-making faculty, rhetors makes use of ethos, pathos and logos as
their means of persuasion as stated by Aristotle in his Rhetorics and Poetics.
The following are the rhetorical appeals used:
Pathos
Pathos can best be described as the use of emotional appeal to sway
another person's opinion in a rhetorical argument. Emotion itself should
require no definition, but it should be noted that effective 'pathetic' appeal
(the use of pathos) is often used in ways that can cause anger or sorrow in the
minds and hearts of the audience. Pathos is often the rhetorical vehicle of
public service announcements. Pathos involves appealing to the audience's
emotions. By tapping into feelings such as fear, joy, or hatred, the speaker
can sway the audience’s attitudes and actions. Emotional appeals can be
particularly powerful, as they often compel people to respond instinctively
rather than through rational consideration.
Ethos
Ethos is described as essential to
persuasion. This is because a speaker without Ethos will have problems with
convincing an audience. The speaker´s rhetoric will therefore sound empty and
the speaker will be seen as manipulative. A prime means for achieving
credibility (Ethos) is metaphors that are interacting with semantic contrasts.
This could be, for example, metaphors about light and dark that associate the
speaker with good and the opponent with evil" (Black, 2011). A
politician's ethos is a prerequisite for the politician's ability to convince
an audience. Furthermore, the establishment of ethos is essential for
persuasion and that metaphors have the ability to influence the ethos of the
speaker.
Logos
Logos is the mode of persuasion rooted in logic and reason that
solely relies on the strength of the argument itself. As such, it connotes
using data, evidence and rational discourse to convince the audience. Logical
arguments require clear reasoning and often involve demonstrating
cause-and-effect relationships or making precise comparisons. This is where a
group of audience mentally assesses and passes their judgement on the speech
presented (Kashyap & Dyquisto, 2020). In their attempt to persuade and appeal to their audience’s
emotion and decision-making faculty, rhetors makes use of ethos, pathos and
logos.
Functions of Rhetoric
As a
persuasive means of establishing one’s moral credibility to the audience,
appealing to the audience’s emotion and logical faculty, rhetoric performs a
number of functions. One of the
functions of rhetoric, according to Herrick (2021), is its contributions to
personal power. The art of rhetoric, as persuasive as it is, facilitates an
easy way to success and advancement as it sharpens our expressive skills. As
such, speakers who are excellent at making emotional and logical appeals to
their audience are likely to be at the forefront of expressive power. This is
because it always shows the relationship between persuasive use of language and
personal success. For instance, a human resources specialist, Rebecca R.
Hastings, has written that for young workers to be successful, they need to
develop a lot more than job specific knowledge. From this, as pointed out by
the specialist, it is inferred that one of the so-called skills needed to
succeed in a workplace is one's communication skills. Another function of
rhetoric is psychological power which it is attached to its use. This is to
show how one’s thought is shaped through rhetoric. As symbols and thoughts are
intricately woven, a speaker or writer might change the way listeners and
readers think. This is achieved by altering their symbolic framework through a
skillfully crafted message. In addition to its capacity to affect action,
rhetoric is a means by which one person alters the psychological world of
another. Indeed, symbols are perhaps our only avenue into the mental world.
Advertising provides an example of rhetoric’s psychological power. Through the
strategic use of symbols, advertisers seek to shape our psychological frame and
thus our behaviour (Herrick, 2021). The third of the main functions of rhetoric
is its significance in gaining political power. This is for the fact that the
distribution of political influence is often a matter of who speaks
persuasively, where speech is allowed and on what subjects. Thus, political
power is directly connected to the practice of rhetoric. Some groups have a
greater opportunity to be heard than do others have, a fact that raises a
concern for the “privileging” of some perspectives or ideologies. An ideology
is a system of belief, or a framework for interpreting the world. It is the
means of communicating one’s ideology to a group of listeners in quest to
secure their collective votes. (Herrick, 2021).
Rhetoric to
politicians is as potent a manipulative tool through which all political
propaganda is made. Political discourse encompasses all communicative acts
politicians devise so as to give specific meanings to facts and
influence/persuade others. It is a manipulative linguistic strategy which
serves concrete (ideological) goals. Political discourse may involve both the
formal debates, speeches, and hearings and the informal talk on politics among
family members (Givi, 2017).
The
Concept of Metaphor
The term, metaphor, originates from the Greek word “metapherein”.
“Meta” refers to beyond or “exceeding” while “pherein” means“ carrying”. Put
together, metaphor literally means ‘carrying beyond’. A metaphor is a trope or
figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between two unlike
things that actually have something in common. A metaphor expresses the
unfamiliar (the tenor) in terms of the familiar (the vehicle). When Neil Young
sings, "Love is a rose," the word "rose" is the vehicle for
the term "love," the tenor (Richard, 2025). The above definition of
metaphor explains that it is a figure of implied comparison between two unlike
things sharing something in common. However, metaphor, according to Richards
(1930) goes beyond that as it is related to our cognition. So, the ideas that
are inexpressible in a literal language are easily made expressible using
metaphorical expressions in such a way that implied meaning is conveyed. In
their use of rhetoric, politicians often apply metaphors of different kinds to
communicate their ideologies, feelings, perceptions etc.
Stages of Understanding Metaphor
The rhetoric angle of metaphor
The study of metaphor can be traced to as far back as Aristotle.
Initially, the study of metaphor was aimed at discovering the roles it plays in
literary studies. In his books titled, Poetics and Rhetoric, Aristotle stated
his opinions on metaphor by stating that it was a language tool in which a word
is used instead of another and which means the same. Furthermore, to him,
decoration is the main function of metaphor more especially in literary works.
This is why a tinge of use of metaphor could be found in any literary text as
an element of foregrounding. As the father of systematic metaphor study,
Aristotle is always remembered and given a reference to and his famous saying
“the greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor” maintains its
currency in metaphor researchers’ ears (Duan, 2013).
Thus, as
traditionalist, Aristotle’s view of metaphor is that it is
assigned just like other figures of speech such as, simile, metonymy etc. However, despite the limitation and deficiency of the traditional
stage of metaphor study, it still provides researchers with an important
perspective of studying metaphor.
The
cognitive angle of metaphor
This stage of metaphorical study has had its
shape from cognitive science and other fields
since 1930s. It was
resulted by Richards' observation of the limitations of traditional stage of
study of metaphor. The limitation of the traditional study as pointed out by Richards,
1930s is that it neglects the
fact that metaphor basically is the intercourse between ideas and the interaction between contexts. He further widens the argument that metaphors go
beyond literary texts and that people
naturally have metaphorical notion of thinking which is achieved by contrast. Thus, a conclusion he arrived
at was that metaphor is a language utterance
phenomenon and a notion of thinking belonging to human beings only.
In their study of metaphor, Lakoff and Johnson (1980) view metaphor not
just a mere figure of speech rather as a fundamental aspect of human thought.
This notion of metaphor posits that our understanding of abstract concepts is
systematically structured by more concrete experiences and this cognitive
process is reflected in our use of language and actions.
Philosophy-of-mind Angle of Metaphor
The study meant
to establish the connection
between metaphor and philosophy of mind was conducted by some scholars such as, Liao Qiaoyun and Xu Shenghuan. In their study, they noticed that in every attempt to understand how metaphor works, one takes advantage of
some philosophical knowledge.
Furthermore, the metaphor and philosophy of mind have something in common especially when human
intellectual is involved. In their book
titled, How to
Understand Metaphor by Mind, they explain
the process and the mechanism involved in understanding metaphor through philosophy of mind (Duan, 2013).
Functions of Metaphor
Metaphor, as a tool of persuasion, performs a number of functions
in written and spoken language. It is
one of the most influential weapons of persuasion tool as it both addresses the
cognitive schemas and sentiments of the audience stealthily. As established
here, metaphors are the most influential weapons as far as persuasion of
listeners is concern (Charteris-Black, 2011). This is why politicians from all
angles devise quite a number of metaphors aimed at establishing and
constructing their positive self-images, making emotional appeals to their
audience as well as base their argument in a logical manner which appeals to
their audience’s sense of decision-making.
Metaphors also enable understanding an abstract and unfamiliar
conceptual domain in terms of a concrete and familiar conceptual domain
(Kövecses, 2010). From this, it is inferred that metaphors are used to simplify
abstract ideas in such a way that the quality of abstract unfamiliar ideas is
presented simply by making a direct comparison with familiar concepts.
Metaphors is indeed technique of persuasion in speech and writing as its use
appeals to one’s mental process of observing he ideas or concept being compared.
According to
Richards (1936), metaphor comprises a topic (vehicle), tenor and ground. Tenor
is the subject of metaphor or the idea which is intended to be expressed, the
vehicle is another idea by which the tenor is being described, and the ground
is a new idea that is produced by the similarities or the two analogies of
tenor and vehicle involved in the comparison. From this study, it can be said
that ground is a new idea produced by the interaction of tenor and vehicle. For
example, Hafsat is a tiger in the debate. Hafsat is the tenor and the tiger is
the vehicle. The analogy and ideas between the two, which is possibly the way
Jack delivers his arguments in debate as strong as a tiger, and makes it
difficult for her opponents to rebate is what is termed ’ground’.
Metaphors are rhetorical tools packed with the power to influence how a situation is evaluated and to convey emotional information. This is done by creating stimuli effective at inspiring action. Metaphors have a way of sticking in the mind. Furthermore, by conveying a message in a memorable image or phrase, metaphors help ensure that the persuasive point is not easily forgotten. (Пирназарова, 2024). From this, it is
pointed out that metaphors have a rhetorical power of influencing an evaluation
of a situation.
Metaphors serve
imagistic purpose of painting richer and more detailed pictures than are
conveyed using literal language. This is to say that while
expressing one’s emotion, metaphors are more appropriate as they present
qualities, which in literal use of language, are somewhat difficult to
understand although. A close example of this could be observed in the way
metaphors paint emotional pictures of anger etc. In addition, describing one’s anger posits some difficulty but by using metaphors, it ismade easy
e.g, ‘He is boiled’.In the above example, the metaphor of anger is
presented with boiling to express how furious the addressee is (Nova, Yusrita & Putri, 2022).
Research Methodology
The use of rhetoric by politicians to win
their electorates' confidence manifests in different forms. As a qualitative
research design, the internet, library sources and relevant news broadcast were
collated for analysis. The use of language
in 2023 presidential campaign speeches by Kwankwaso, Bola Ahmad Tinubu, Atiku
Abubakar and Peter Obi forms the source of the data for the study as recorded
by Channels Television, Premium Times and Vanguard News. The data for the study
is collected through internet searches. Furthermore, the thematic analysis of data is employed as data is
presented and analysed in paragraphs devoid of tables and graphs. As critical
discourse analysis of speeches, Lakoff’s and Johnson’s (1980) Conceptual
Metaphor Theory is employed for analysis of metaphors used in selected campaign
speeches of the referent presidential aspirants. The selected campaigns were
coded based on the four presidential aspirants (Text 1: Kwankwaso, Text 2: Bola
Ahmad Tinubu, Text 3: Atiku Abubakar and Text 4: Peter Obi). In addition, Aristotle’s three rhetorical
means of persuasion are used to analysed the selected rhetorical
statements---ethos, pathos and logos respectively. In their campaign speeches, use of rhetoric is evident as they made
appeal to electorates' emotional feelings and logical analysis as the best way
of influencing their franchise decisions so as to vote in their favour.
Data Analysis
In 2023 Nigerian presidential election
campaign speeches, a number of metaphors were used by the four major
presidential aspirants, Atiku Abubakar of People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Bola Ahmad Tinubu of All People’s
Party (APC), Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso of New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) and
Peter Obi of Labour Party (LP). The main aim of using the technique is to influence the electorates as well as
secure their collective votes. The following are some of the major metaphors
evident in the speeches presented:
Metaphor of Access to Education
In the referent campaign speeches, the political actors were
reported to have used the conceptual metaphor of access to education in order
to appeal to electorates’ emotional feelings. This is considering the
invaluable benefits attached to education towards one’s overall development. In
his statement, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, said the following:
Text 1: “For our
administration, no Nigerian child shall be denied the opportunity to write
WAEC, NECO, JAMB, etc., because of their inability to pay exorbitant
registration/examination fees. These examinations shall be free and all
application forms for admission into Tertiary Education Institutions shall also
be free (Daily Trust, 2023).
Going by the
ethos of the speaker, his moral tags to the entire to the listeners gives him a
credibility of standing before the electorates to declare his missions were he
elected the president of the country. The speaker’s persuasive remarks to the
electorates is informed of his connection to the reality of some Nigerian
children’s inability to go to tertiary institutions because of exorbitant
registration fees incurred by the system. The pathos, as an emotional appeal of
the speaker is directed to the audience. This denotes what persuasive device a
speaker presents to the audience capable of influencing their opinions. To
achieve this, a speaker has to presents what appeals to the audience line of
thoughts, likes etc. In the above rhetoric, the referent speaker, having being
fully aware that education is the backbone of any social development, appeals
to the audience’s sense of reasoning mainly to secure their collective votes.
To make the argument factual to the audience, he declared that admission forms
into any higher institutions shall be free of charge. What the above rhetoric
means, in essence, is that free and quality education should be offered to all
in the country. With the logos of the rhetoric above, it denotes the logic
behind the statement made. The logic of the statement makes imperative for the
electorates to be taken by the declaration made by the referent speaker.
Metaphor of Irresponsibility
Another conceptual metaphor evident in the referent speeches is the
metaphor of irresponsibility used by the speaker to construct positive
self-image thereby condemning the fellow presidential aspirants:
Text 2: “One man wants to
sell all of Nigeria’s public assets and its future, so that only he and his
tight club of conspirators can enjoy the meat of the land. While Mr. Stingy
wants to do for the nation what he did to Anambra. He let the people suffer
while kept and hid their own money from them and their basic needs. He refused
to save people so that he could save money (Premium Times Nigeria, 2023).
The above
remarks by the then presidential aspirant of APC persuasively attempt to
manipulate the citizens of Anambra State over Atiku’s declaration to privatise
the public assets betters the country. The ethos of the speaker defines his
credibility to what betters the country. By establishing his positive image,
the audience are hooked to listen to him. The pathos of the statement appeals
to the audience’s emotion having being aware of what it takes to sell all
Nigeria’s assets to other foreign or national investors. In addition, to every
Nigerian then, whoever, among the presidential aspirants, dares to make that
declaration would be termed ‘heartless’ and indifferent of whatever betters the
country and the citizens. The ‘logos’ of the statement makes it logical to the
audience the way they view the described referent presidential, Mr Stingy. The
audience, in essence, understood who the metaphorical term, Mr Stingy, refers
to. The stinginess in the referent personality had the tendency of winning the
electorates’ sense of choice not to vote for him. Furthermore, the speaker used the word, ‘sell
all of Nigeria’s assets’ instead of ‘privatise all of Nigeria’s assets’. By
doing so, the audience, he totally condemned the referent presidential aspirant
thereby saving his face to them.
Metaphor of
Economic Restructuring
Another conceptual metaphor evident in the referent speeches is the
metaphor of economic restructuring. This makes appeals to the electorates’
emotional feelings as they are aware of the economic situation of the
country. The referent presidential
aspirants were reported to have used it in a number of ways as could be
observed in the following:
Text 3: “Atiku is the only
candidate in this election that has a clear pathway for restructuring Nigeria
and not only that, he picked Sen. Seriake Dickson as his technical adviser on
restructuring (Channels Television, 2023).
From the above statement, the referent candidate is directly
compared to ‘the only candidate that has a clear pathway for restructuring
Nigeria’. Through the speaker (The National Chairman of the platform PDP, Mr.
Iyochia Ayu), the referent presidential aspirant’s moral credibility (ethos) is
highlighted to the audience. Restructuring the nation’s economy requires an
immutability and commitment of any aspirant for the post. The speaker’s
emotional appeal to the audience is informed by his moral credibility and
spiritual credibility. The ‘logos’ of the statement, however, highlights the
effect of the appeal to the audience as it was logical to them. In addition,
the citizens were hopeful to hold onto whoever steps in for its restructuring.
To draw the citizens’ attention to Atiku’s mission as well as secure their
collective votes, use of rhetoric was inevitable.
Metaphor of Unemployment
In the referent speeches, the conceptual metaphor of unemployment
is used by the presidential aspirants in a number of ways. This is informed by
the level of unemployment bedevilling the citizens as it posits a lot of
damages on the citizens. The speakers used that avenue to appeal to the
electorates’ emotional feelings as could be observed in the following:
Text 4: “The insecurity in
the country is persisting due to lack of job opportunities. I will bring the
country back to her days of greatness and the citizens will smile again.” (Daily
Trust, 2023)
In the above statement, the speaker mentioned insecurity with
specific mentions of unemployment as the cause to it. The moral credibility
(ethos) of the speaker testifies to that indelible fact that the country is
bedevilled by insecurity resulted by unemployment. The speaker’s emotional
appeal to the audience (pathos) makes it imperative for them to listen with
keen ears as the speaker was making the remarks. The ‘logos’ of the statement
is resulted by the speaker’s appeal to audience’s emotion that what he
presented is true to the referent country being described. With that, they
found the persuasive remarks logical as they were also connected to the reality
of the country. Through the metaphor of unemployment and insecurity, the
picture of the country’s reality is painted to the audience, listeners and
reader-audience.
From the above statement, the speaker’s appeal to the audience is
informed by his moral credibility (ethos) as a two-term governor of Lagos
State. His emotional appeal to the audience (pathos) is informed by his moral
credibility and the social distance between the speaker and the audience is
shortened by using the second person pronoun, your. This is what makes the
audience keen to know who of the presidential aspirants the speaker refers to.
The logos of the statement is attained through the audience’s emotional appeals
(pathos) that ‘they‘re coming’. By listening to that from the speaker, the
audience are made to await the coming of the referent presidential aspirants
and whatever they utter to them, the audience might turn against them during
the general elections. In addition, it is based on the speaker’s shortened
distance with the audience that he made his remarks with compulsion that ‘you
must deliver me 95% of your votes.’
Discussion of Findings
Rhetoric, as
observed from the four main actors of 2023 presidential elections, is proven an
effective means of winning electorates' confidence. As the most important
weapon of persuasion, the use of metaphor is evident in a number of ways. The
presidential aspirants employed metaphor of access to quality education,
metaphor of identity, metaphor of unity, metaphor of unemployment, metaphor of
irresponsibility, metaphor of fertility, university autonomy, revolution,
beauty and hospitality, blessing, appeal as a means of persuasion,
restructuring, appreciation and reproduction. Part of his persuasive attempt to
secure Lagos people's votes, Dr Rabi'u Musa Kwankwaso stressed that the maritime industry gave birth to his great party, the NNPP.
Therefore, as implied further by his statement, his being there was largely to
listen, appreciate and understand the expectations of maritime operators and
work assiduously on that should he eventually emerge winner of the 2023 general
elections. His moral credibility to the listeners was a motivating factor that
established him as an honest politician and this was why the audience remained
there to listen to him. His emotional appeal to the audience, having mentioned
the maritime industry, made them develop interest in his speech. The (logos)
logical appeal he made in his remarks stirred them to processing the logic
behind the remarks.
In his remarks,
Bola Ahmad Tinubu, while in Akwa-Ibom State, declared that the power to become
a president resides in the people of the State. In that, the power to become a
president is directly compared to the citizens’ might and political will as it
resides in them. The statement is meant to acknowledge their untimely support
to the speakers’ candidacy and that had defined him a humble personality in
their eyes and as it appealed to their emotion and logical reasoning. Thus, it
communicated a tendency of winning their confidence and decision-making
process.
While in
Anambra State, the metaphor of irresponsibility was used by Bola Ahmad Tinubu
in his description of other candidates. Instead of using ‘privatise’ as it is
formally used, he used ‘sell’ in his attempt to paint the other candidates bad
in the eyes of the audience that one man would sell all of Nigeria’s assets and
its future hence the metaphor of leadership irresponsibility. Another
metaphorical expression is used when referring to his opponent as Mr Stingy.
Going by the connotative sense of the word, stingy, he directly compared his
opponent as that which translated to incurring perpetual suffering in the
country would he be voted for as the president of Nigeria.
In his remarks
on restructuring the Nigerian economy, the National Chairman Party of PDP, Mr.
Iyochia Ayu, in a persuasive manner, expressed that Atiku Abubakar would be the
only candidate with a clear pathway to restructure the country. What the
remarks means is that, of all the candidates contesting, Atiku is the only
candidate with such a robust mindset and political will.
In his remarks,
Peter Obi, in a persuasive manner, defined the state of insecurity by
presenting unemployment as the cause. Therefore, insecurity is conceptualised
as a persisting phenomenon prevailing as a result of unemployment. From the use
of metaphors by the referent political actors, it is evident that as far as
persuasive remark is concern, metaphors are always relevant tools for
communicating one’s ideologies.
Conclusion
Rhetoric as a tool for social manipulation spreads its overlapping
wings for its users to grab especially in a political space. Rhetoric can be
traced to as far back as the period of Aristotle and its study manifests since
in 1980. The period of Aristotle is regarded as the traditional stage of study
of rhetoric. It regards metaphor, just like other figures of speech such as
simile, personification, metonymy etc, as a figure of association whose
significance lies in literary texts. Rhetors, according to Black (2011), use
metaphor as the most influential weapon of persuasion. The use of rhetoric
transcends literary texts and political discourse as it dominates human
interactions be it social, religious and financial. It is the predominantly
used tool as far as political campaign is concern and Nigerian politics is not
an exception. Year by year, rhetoric has been used to manipulate the
electorates and influence their decisions. Because of its pervasive force, it
challenges one’s conscience as well as decision-making process. In 2023
presidential elections, it is evident that each of the four main actors, Bola
Ahmad Tinubu of ANPP, Atiku Abubakar of PDP, Peter Obi of LP and Kwankwaso of
NNPP, devise rhetoric in a different number of ways thereby establishing their
moral credibility to the audience (ethos), making appeal to the audience’s
emotion (pathos) and logical faculty (logos). In their attempt to win
electorates’ confidence, they use a number of metaphors such as, metaphor of unemployment metaphor of economic restructuring,
metaphor of identity, metaphor of access to education, metaphor of
irresponsibility, metaphor of nation-building, national unity,
blessing, beauty and hospitality, metaphor of fertility etc.
As observed
from the referent analysed speeches of Bola Ahmad Tinubu, Peter Obi, Atiku
Abubakar and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, rhetoric is the lifeblood of political
discourse. This is because political discourse is laced with persuasive
expressions meant to establish politicians’ positive self-image, make appeal to
electorates’ emotion as well as to the audience’s logical faculty. From the
analysis made on the use of metaphor by the referent political actors, it is
concluded that it is a powerful tool of persuasion and not just a figure of
speech. It is normally used by politicians to express self, shorten the
distance between they and their audience as well as communicate their
ideologies in expressible means.
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