POLITICAL RESISTANCE AND HUMAN EXISTENCE IN POST-ELECTION NIGERIA: A PRAGMATIC STUDY OF DR. YUSUF DATTI BABA AHMED’S TELEVISED REJOINDER

Abstract

This paper is a pragmatic assessment that focuses on how language functions as a
tool for political resistance and human existence. Data is drawn from Dr. Yusuf Datti
Baba Ahmed’s post-election televised rejoinder following Nigeria’s 2023
presidential election and the issuance of the certificate of return to President Bola
Ahmed Tinubu by Professor Yakubu Mahmood, the then INEC Chairman. The
objectives of the study among others are to: investigate how speech acts are used to
perform political resistance and warn against perceived constitutional violations;
explore what implicatures and inferences are embedded in the speaker’s utterances
and how they contribute to the persuasive force of the message; and examine how
the socio-political context of post-election Nigeria affects the interpretation of this
rejoinder within Relevance Theory. Drawing on Speech Act Theory, Relevance
Theory, and Politeness Theory, the study reveals how the speaker strategically uses
directives, assertives, commissives, declaratives, implicatures, and face-threatening
acts to challenge perceived constitutional violations while asserting ethical and legal
authority. The study integrates concepts from three theories into a theoretical
framework to underscore the value of a multi-theoretical pragmatic framework in
interpreting political texts, especially in contexts marked by political resistance,
human existence, and heightened public emotion. The findings from a multifaceted
assessment of illocutionary force, contextual inference, politeness, and deixis
contribute to existing research on political pragmatics within Nigeria, thereby
illustrating how language both reflects and reshapes democratic struggle in
transitional electoral societies.