Discursive Strategies in Selected Political Rally Campaigns of 2011 Elections in Southwestern Nigeria

This paper discussed the discursive strategies in selected political rally campaigns of the 2011 elections in Southwestern Nigeria with a view to revealing the dynamics of political persuasion and mobilization in contemporary natural political communication in Nigeria. The data for the study were obtained from two political rallies in each of the six Southwestern states in Nigeria, making a total of twelve. The political rallies were purposively selected as the focus was on one rally of each of the two strongest parties in each of the six Southwestern Nigerian states. The data gathered were analyzed using the analytical tools of Systemic Functional Linguistics. The data analysis revealed that the discourse participants deployed discourse strategies such as allusion, propagandistic language, code-switching and code-mixing, requesting, flattery, praise, and provocative language. The study concluded that while the discourse continues to be an effective platform for political struggles and power play, it also highlights the cultural, linguistic, and social factors which had a bearing on the language use of political actors in Southwestern Nigeria.