PRESIDENTIAL CONTENDERS’ ETHOS: THE CASE OF SPEECH ACTS IN BUHARI-ATIKU CAMPAIGN RHETORIC ON TWITTER DURING NIGERIA’S 2019 ELECTIONS

The purpose of this study was to investigate how speech acts were used to project ethos in the campaign tweets of President Buhari and his challenger, Atiku Abubakar, during the 2019 General Election in Nigeria. Therefore, a qualitative discourse analysis approach was adopted. The study applied Searle’s (1979) Speech Acts, van Dijk’s (2006) Rhetorical Discursive Strategies, and a framework of ethos based on Beason (1991) and McCroskey and Teven (1999). The data analysed consisted of 140 tweets from the official Twitter handles of the two contenders. The results indicate, first, that both contenders similarly relied on assertives in their campaign rhetoric. However, while Buhari mostly utilised assertives in ways that emphasised his shared values and common bonds with the audience in terms of patriotism and trustworthiness (similitude, 48%) or highlighted his future potential based on current achievements (inclination to succeed, 38%), Atiku’s assertives were mostly geared towards exhibiting competence in growing the economy and creating jobs (expertise, 50%) or emphasising his shared ideologies of supporting democracy and rejecting anti-democratic acts (similitude, 21%). The findings suggest that while Buhari’s ethos was aimed at maintaining the audience’s confidence and trust, Atiku’s ethos was targeted at undermining their trust in Buhari and reviving their faith and support for Atiku. Based on these findings, the study concluded that assertives are the most effective speech acts in projecting ethos in campaign tweets, and that candidates can use them differently to employ different discursive tactics and sets of ethos that support their agenda.