1.1 Introduction
Language is a powerful tool in the hands of leaders. Speakers in political domain seek appropriate means of merchandising their ideas to the consumers, who, in turn, are swayed by the most powerful speeches. Personal pronouns readily provide politicians with an effective instrument of manipulating peoples’ mind since they present multiple identities. Politicians tactfully deploy them to assert their power status; take responsibility for their actions; shirk it and implicate others; show commitment; establish solidarity with the masses; align with the in-group, or expose the wickedness of the out-group, and a lot more.
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of Study
Political speeches are delivered for different purposes, including the inauguration of new government. Inaugural speeches signal the end of a tenure of office and the inception of a new leadership. It is delivered by the head of the incoming executive to set the tone of the new administration. Such a speech therefore contains the mission statements of the new government. In the case of coup d’états, the new head of the junta justifies their seizure of state power, while in a democratically elected regime, the incoming leader appreciates the electorates for casting their votes for him/her, while promising them good governance. Inaugural speeches also weigh the out gone leadership. Muhammadu Buhari delivered two inaugural speeches to Nigerians:
- The maiden address he presented on January 1, 1984 as the Head of a junta.
- The inaugural speech he delivered on May 29, 2015 after he won that year’s presidential election.
In 2015, Enyi conducted a comparative Pragmatic Analysis of Major General Muhammadu Buhari’s Maiden Speech of 1st January, 1984 and his Inaugural Speech of 29th May, 2015. He adopted Austin’s (1962) Speech Acts Theory as revised by Searle (1962, 1999) as his theoretical framework, and analyzed excerpts from the speech using the illocutionary forces deployed in them.
He observes that Buhari manipulated the people to make the desired inferences from the socio-political contexts of the speeches. He also discovers that Buhari’s use of language in both contexts reflected his dispositions as a military leader and a democratic president respectively.
Sharndama (2015) studied Buhari’s inaugural speech of 25th May 2015 from the perspective of Critical Discourse Analysis using Fairclough’s (1989) Three Dimensional Analytical Model. The analysis reveals that the ideologies / plans of Buhari’s administration include promoting good governance, strengthening international relations, foreign policies, democracy, fighting insecurity, and others.
Ademilokun (2015) carried out a linguistic appraisal analysis of aspects of attitudinal change in the 2015 inaugural speech. He made the Appraisal Theory of Martin and White (2005) his analytical tool, and observes that Buhari used affective meaning, judgment, and appreciation to convey attitudinal meaning with which he established interpersonal relationship with the people, as well as seek their cooperation.
Oke (2015) carried out a brief critique on the 2015 inaugural speech. He did not adopt any theoretical or analytical framework. No sampling technique was used in selecting the few sentences he analyzed, and his observations were more of personal opinions.
The present study focuses on unpacking Muhammadu Buhari’s pronominal choices in the two inaugural speeches he presented to Nigerians from a critical discourse perspective, with a view to making overt the meanings behind the personal pronouns deployed in them. Pronouns are powerful linguistics / rhetorical devices capable of creating referential ambiguity as well as projecting in-group and out-group identities, and as a result require some attention in political discourse.
Therefore, in Nigeri where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to critically analyze President Mohammadu Buhari Inaugural Speech.
1.3 Statement of Problems
Investigation revealed that the president assumed power at a time that the country is facing some serious political, economic and insecurity challenges Some of the challenges that Nigeria, her neighbours and the wider communities face include threats of cross border terrorism, sea piracy, refuges and boat people, financial crime, climate change, the spread of communicable diseases, among others. Other home challenges highlighted include unending and seemingly impossible fuel and power shortages.
On unemployment, the president stated that it is already in their party’s manifesto. Through the use of the personal pronoun we, presents youth unemployment problem and the tackling of it as collective responsibility of his party than personal. He asserts:
1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to critically analyze President Mohammadu Buhari Inaugural Speech. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To identify and discuss the prevalent or crucial micro structures (linguistic feature) of the speech
- To identify the underlying political ideological structures in the speech and explain how they relate to social structures.
1.5 Research Questions
The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:
- What are the prevalent micro structures of the speech?
- What are the macro structures of the speech and do they relate to the socio-cultural and political issues the society?
1.6 Significance of Study
This study will be of immense benefit to researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.
1.7 Methodology
Data used in this work is derived primary from secondary sources. The methodology therefore, is basically documentary in nature. This involves learning new facts and principles through the study of documents and records. The documents and records include journals, textbooks, newspapers, magazines, official publications etc. By putting together logically evidence derived from documents and records. Conclusion which either established facts hitherto unknown or sound generalization can be obtained.
1.8 Scope of Study
The scope of the research is focused on Critical Discourse Analysis of President Mohammadu Buhari Inaugural Speech.
1.9 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
