‘The city boy is back’: a multimodal critical discourse analysis of Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s 2023 election campaign memes

Abstract This paper explores 50 purposively selected Internet memes utilised for identity construction and ideological representations of Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s (BAT) candidacy during Nigeria’s 2023 presidential election campaign. The memes, which were gathered from Nigerian WhatsApp platforms, were analysed qualitatively using Machin and Mayr’s multimodal critical discourse analysis. The analysis reveals that the memes are used to positively represent Bola Ahmed Tinubu as political champion, master strategist, pro-people, divine candidate, reformer and (inter)nationally endorsed. The study concludes that the memes are circulated not only to positively represent and politically advertise Tinubu’s candidacy but also to preserve his socio-political relevance as a formidable force in the Nigerian polity.