A comparative discourse analysis of state and non-state actors’ perceptions of #EndSARS protest in virtual tweets

This study undertakes a comparative discourse exploration of state and non-state actors’ perceptions of the #EndSARS protest in virtual tweets. The study is anchored on van Dijk’s socio-cognitive model of Critical Discourse Analysis and van Leeuwen’s discursive construction of legitimation. Data is constituted by ten tweets made on X (formerly Twitter) during and after the 2020 youth-led Nigerian #EndSARS protest. Their selection is based on their thematic relevance and ample reflection of #EndSARS activism. Four specific social actors are identified: the Nigerian politicians and security operatives as state actors, and the youth protesters and the media as non-state actors. Five contextual issues expressed through reference, shared situation, inference and metaphor mark the tweets: state denial, bad governance, national instability, civil rights and police brutality. The study uncovers how language functions as a tool for repression and resistance. Conflicting representational choices in the tweets uncover social actors’ goals of recontextualising issues of national security, rights and legitimacy. Four key strategies of legitimation articulated through adjectives, verbal process clauses and mental process clauses are uncovered: authorisation, moral evaluation, rationalisation and mythopoesis. While state actors engage in protest delegitimation and criminalisation, non-state actors’ tweets and retweets emphasise human rights violation, state denial and moral urgency.