Bandwagonist Tendencies in the Rhetorical Culture of Nigerian Politicians: A Study of Selected Speeches of Bola Tinubu, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi

Background: The study thrust was anchored on the need to provide a scientific explanation of the application of bandwagonism, as identified in the political rhetoric of Bola Tinubu, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi. Objective: The objectives among others bordered on the need to identify the dominant narratives in political speeches within the Nigerian political milieu with a view to contextualizing them and ascertaining the techniques of bandwagonism as inferred from the speeches of the politicians under study. Method: A mixed methods research design was adopted, combining discourse analysis of the speeches of the 3 selected politicians transcribed from 3 online media platforms with 3 speeches per politician and survey of their audiences through a Focus Group Discussion of 6 participants each from the city of Port Harcourt and Benin. The study gathered all of its data for discourse analysis using documentary analysis guide. While focus group guide was used to gather data from the participants from Port Harcourt and Benin metropolis during the focus group discussions. Result: The study found that the narrative of nationalism, the narrative of attack, the narrative of deceit, the narrative of exaggeration, and the narrative of ethnic bigotry were the 5 dominant narratives in the Nigerian political milieu. Of these 5 narratives, data showed that the politicians played up 2 of the narratives – nationalism and attack – more than the other 3 narratives. The finding showed that politicians in using these techniques do not only seek to control the people’s opinion or make them change their views, but also, the ultimate goal is to win elections and control the nation. Furthermore, data from the speeches examined showed that the different politicians used bandwagonist techniques severally and differently. Conclusion: the study concluded that the main goal of any political speech is to persuade the audience to change their political ideology and follow the ideology of the speech maker. Unique contribution: Methodologically, this study will hold some significance because primarily, it draws attention to the essence of the qualitative methodology which is adopted for the study because its selection exposes the select Nigerian politician’s speeches and antics as ideological with which they expose their worldview. Key recommendation: In the light of the findings, the study recommended that politicians should use rhetorical antics benevolently and never malevolently; rhetorical antics should be used more for public good and the enrichment of our polity rather than for attack or for festering disunity; political actors should be more conscientious with the use of bandwagonist technique, meaning that, rather than using bandwagonist rhetoric to sway the citizens to subscribe to vain or rancourous causes, bandwagonist techniques should be used to mobilize the citizens to causes of our common good and development.