Propaganda in Politics the Use of Language for Effect in Electioneering Campaign ( a Case Study of 2015 General Election)
CHAPTER ONE
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
Where ever politics evolves, propaganda is a major tool in deciding the vote. Propaganda itself is not possible without language. This work is therefore aimed at showing through vivid analysis that propaganda in politics makes use of linguistics device in deciding where the podium of influence should swing towards. This work will also show the forms and features of propaganda as it relates to language use.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Literature Review and Theoretical Framework
This chapter examines significantly related literatures and prior works done in this field of enquiry. It also attempts to do a review of basic concepts related to the topic.
Party Politics in Nigeria
(Okoli, 2007) cited in (Okoli and lortyer 2014), opines that party politics in Nigeria over the years, has to a large extent mirrored the proverbial rat-race. State power has been sought by many with crudest desperation, and with the least regard for decorum and etiquette. This is to suggest that, the desire to acquire the power of control over the country has become an open end affair where anyone who has the means (majorly liquid) is permitted to try out his mettle with any other aspirant using any means possible; an open-for-all fight for power. He goes further to say that the underlying logic of partisanship has been sort of Machiavellian expediency; hence “…the end justifies the means and the means being acquisition and appropriation of state power by all means and at all cost”(Okoli, 2007).
In effect, electoral politics in Nigeria has become a perplexing phenomenon, entailing the application of the most desperate and despicable tactics to clinch and maintain power. In this context, lawlessness, violence and impunity become indispensable elements of the electioneering experience. The above give enough credence to Ake’s (1976) observation: We (Nigerians) are intoxicated with politics. The premium on political power is so high that we are prone to take the most extreme measures in order to win and maintain political power; our energy tends to be channeled into the struggle for power to the detriment of economically productive efforts (as cited by Diamond, 1984). Furthermore, the state is everywhere and its power appears boundless. There is hardly any aspect of life in which the state does not exercise power and control. That makes the capture of state power singularly important.
Politically, Nigeria has been a systematically challenged aspiring democracy. Since independence in 1960, Nigeria’s aspiration towards democracy has materialized in various democratic transitions and dispensations, amidst sundry crises and contradictions. The Table hereunder gives insights to the democratic government as practised in Nigeria.
In all of these dispensations, party politics in Nigeria has remained a thorny issue. In short, electioneering in the country has come to be associated with political crisis and instability. In the views of Okoli and lortyer (2014), this peculiarity of the Nigerian state promotes prebendary politics wherein state power is sought by all and sundry as a means of personal material aggrandizement (Joseph, 1991; Okoli, 2009). Politics in this context therefore attracts inestimable premium. Thus, in a bid to capture state power, the political elite, rather than promote opportunities for political competition, tend to limit or vitiate same (Okoli, 2008). Politicking, thus, becomes a matter of warfare by factions of the power elite. In this desperate, Hobbesian struggle, party politics and electioneering become rather obfuscating.
CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
This research sourced data majorly from secondary sources. Also information relating to the topic under study was also sourced for basically from the internet. Online newspapers such as The Punch, Premium Times, Vanguard News, The Cable and The Daily Post are the selected online news portal for this research. Secondary sources involved information concerning political speeches of 2015 general election in Nigeria. In all, eight speeches will be analysed. Brief profiles of the participants in the order of appearance are given below:
Alhaji Lai Mohammed: He is the national party secretary of the APC and one can rightly say he did not leave any stone unturned at performing more than his duty during the campaign process.
Gov. Ayo Fayose: the incumbent governor of Ekiti State and a die-hard loyalist of PDP and Goodluck Jonathan.
Alhaji Mohammadu Buhari: a retired General of the Nigerian Army who has contested for the presidency for three consecutive terms under different party. He is the presidential flag bearer of the All People’s Congress (APC), who finally emerged victorious in the 2015 election.
Patience Jonathan: the wife of the immediate past president of Nigeria popularly known for her many controversial remarks.
Goodluck Jonathan: a Doctor of Zoology and a former president of Nigeria. He came into political limelight when he became the governor of Bayelsa State after the former governor was impeached on money laundering charges. He has been a PDP loyalist since the beginning of his political career. He lost the last election which would have been his second term in office as the president.
Musa Kwankwaso: the incumbent governor of Kano state and an APC acolyte. He defected from the PDP in 2014, before his defection, he served in several capacities which includes: the defence minister and a member on the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC.
Femi-Fani Kayode: FFK as he is fondly referred to by the media critics was appointed by Jonathan to be his campaign manager after his tenure as the aviation minister in his cabinet. FFK became the direct opposition to APC’s Lai Mohammed at a point during the campaign.
The first four will be calumnious language used against the then incumbent president;
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the party and other four will be propagandistic statements targeted as the opposition Alhaji Mohammadu Buhari of the All Progressive Congress (APC). These statements are made majorly by the party loyalists, publicity secretaries and campaign managers of the respective political parties.
CHAPTER FOUR
ANALYSIS, FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS
Data Analysis
Introduction
If the speaker of a political message and indeed propaganda, has some objectives which he wants the hearer to be aware of. One can also allege that behind every political communication is the speaker’s intention to persuade the audience; for political communication guided towards the views of the audience – the speaker believes something and wants the audience to share his philosophy. The speaker thus try to convince his audience through persuasion, modifying their attitudes and beliefs towards an intended direction (his support).
As the 2015 General Elections drew close and the actors of the major parties became sure of the flag bearers, propagandas in earnest took up a common place in the various campaigns. During this period, hardly could one hear a politician or group of politicians talk about issues without using offensive languages, especially during political rallies which became ready avenues for showering hate speeches and enough propaganda. The researcher will alternate the statements against one party and the other.
Analysis
JONATHAN-BEHIND-MY-ARREST-BY-MILITARY-LAI-MOHAMMED
…He said, “Again, we call on President Jonathan to stop deceiving the world. In one breath, this President says he is committed to credible elections and that his political ambition is not worth the life of any Nigerian. He desecrates national institutions by wilfully using them against the opposition. This is not the democracy that many of our compatriots fought and died for. This is not the Nigeria that was envisaged by our past heroes. It is time for all concerned to step in and stop President Jonathan before he brings the country crashing down on our heads.”(Punchng.com August 10, 2014).
CHAPTER FIVE
Summary, Recommendations and Conclusion
Summary
This study has used the speech acts theory of J.L Austin to investigate the effects which eight different propagandistic writings of two opposing parties-the APC and the PDP evident in the Nigeria’s general election of 2015. The perlocutionary thrust of these writings on the audience has been the main focus of this research.
The first chapter is an introduction to the whole body of the study under which the introductory background to the study, statement of research problems, the objectives of the research, the scope of the study and the expected contribution to knowledge. A review of the related literatures to the study and theoretical framework upon which the analysis is based is done in chapter two. The third chapter got pre-occupied with the research method adopted for the study. Chapter four did a thorough analysis of the effects of the language of propaganda as evident in the datum. In conclusion, this study reveals that language will always have an effect on thoughts, feelings and even actions of the audience.
Conclusion
From the enquiry, it has been clearly established that a high level of propaganda pervaded most of the political writings released in the build up to the 2015 general elections in Nigeria. Also, those statements by party loyalists to an extent made impacts on the audience especially the opposition. The opposition on their part did not leave any stone unturned at replying all propagandistic speeches directed at them and this summarily led to the flooding of propaganda in most of the campaign speeches.
Alhaji Mohammadu Buhari has emerged as the winner, but one question still lingers- was he able to win the election based on the amount of propaganda he and his party were able to surmount or the ones raised by his party against the opposition? Conversely, did the PDP lose out because their level of propaganda release did not measure up to that of the APC? These questions remains a quizzical puzzle to the researcher who feels Buhari won because people really wanted him to rule since his records as a past leader seem untainted.
Recommendations
Sequel to the findings from the analysis done in this work, the researcher will like to proffer some recommendations as part of the projects contribution to the society at large. The following are some of the recommendations:
It is glaring that the use of propaganda pervaded the campaigns of the rival parties, damaging of other people’s character, hate speeches, exaggerations, and half-truths among others. This recent trend summarily reduced campaigns from being issue based to trying to outdo the opposition by all means possible. Therefore, the researcher recommends that more emphasis should be laid on issue based campaigns and not making oneself the better by destroying the other.
The researcher also feels that not so much is done at curbing the excesses of what one can say against the opponent, since it is believed that all is still under the umbrella of campaigns and publicity. The researcher believes that this caused the high rate of propaganda usage. Therefore, measures should be in place to reduce this trend to the bearable minimum. This is believed to forestall the occurrence of especially unfound claims, extreme speeches and half truths in consequent elections.
In recent times, there has been a clamour for a single term of six years at the National Assembly. From this enquiry, one could notice that most of the attacks on the PDP man would not have been made if he was not seeking a second term. Based on this premise, the researcher feels anyone who has being in office for a term should step aside for another administration so that the issue of division along party lines, religious sentiments and ethnic bigotry (which became rampant as different propagandistic statements rented the air), will reduce drastically.
Also, without doubt, the role which the mass media played in the propagation of the propagandas seen in the writings of the 2015 general elections cannot be over-emphasized. In fact, it got to a time that some online platforms and news channels were apparently divided along party line and used significantly by an opposition to disseminate propagandas. Therefore, the researcher feels that the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) should ensure that news coming from these channels is unbiased, verifiable and honest.
REFERENCES
- Enough of State Burials- Fayose, punchng.com, January 19, 2015.
- I Stand with Jonathan; Buhari can never Rule Nigeria – Fani-Kayode, Dailypost.ng, December 12, 2014
- If we don’t Kill Corruption it will kill us- Buhari, Vanguardnews, March 12, 2015.
- I don’t think Nigerians will make the Mistake of Voting for Buhari – Jonathan, The Cable, Thursday, March 26, 2015.
- Jonathan behind My Arrest by Military- Lai Mohammed, punchng.com, August 10, 2014.
- PDP, Nigerians’ Worst Nightmare – Buhari, premiumtimes.ng, March 21, 2015.
- Please don’t Vote for Prison – Patience Jonathan, Vanguardnews, March 25, 2015.
- Kwankwaso Attacks Jonathan, says President Incompetent as Commander In-Chief, Premiumtimes.com, December 7, 2014.
- Abati, Reuben (2001). “English, as Spoken by Politicians”. The Guardian. May 4.
- Adedimeji Mahfouz A. (2005). The Language of Politics in Nigeria: Conflicts and Resolution. Paper Presented at a “National Conference on Crisis and Conflict Management in Nigeria since 1980” at Ejoor Hall, Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), Kaduna between the 15th and 17th of June, 2005.
- Adedokun Niran, (2015). Politicians and Raging Propaganda War”. (The Punch, March 5, 2015).
- Ademilokun Mohammed, (2015). A Multimodal Discourse Analysis of Some Newspaper Political Campaign Advertisements for Nigeria’s 2015 elections.
- Aduradola, R. and Ojukwu, C. (2013). Language of Political Campaigns and Politics in Nigeria. Canadian Social Science 9 (3): 104-116.
- Ali Mazrui (1975): The political sociology of the English language: an African perspective: The Hague: Mouton Co. Amjad, Zainab Roll no: 11011502-027, Speech Acts Psycholinguistics Submitted to: Mr. Razae
