METAPHORS OF WAR, ONTOLOGY AND JOURNEY IN THE INAUGURAL SPEECHES OF GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN AND BOLA AHMED TINUBU

Abstract

This study examines the metaphors of war, ontology and journeys in the inaugural speeches of Goodluck Jonathan and Bola Ahmed Tinubu, former presidents of Nigeria. The study is necessitated by the need to establish the fact that Nigerian presidents use metaphors to communicate their political views, ideologies and goals to the public in a relatable way. The main data of qualitative research are the two inaugural addresses of Post-military Nigerian presidents, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Drawing upon Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) and Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA). The research explores how these political leaders employed metaphors to construct narratives of governance, identity and national destiny. The result therefore, reveals that there are evidences of the use of ontology, war and journey metaphors in their speeches. From the identified conceptual metaphor, 21 metaphorical themes were discerned. Juxtaposing the two presidents’ density of metaphorical usage, Jonathan and Tinubu focused on ontological metaphor as they assert political issues. Moreover, they used journey metaphor as they want to paint a picture portraying the political process as a confluence of movement towards a goal. Again, they used war metaphor to represent their interest in fighting and tackling corruption. The study contributes to our understanding of metaphorical discourse in political communication and its implications for shaping public perceptions and policies in diverse cultural and political settings. The study therefore, recommends that political leaders use metaphors to simplify complex political views, influence political participation and in the long run achieve their social goals.