PATRIOTISM OR PATRONAGES: THE PRAGMATICS OF INTENTIONAL VAGUENESS IN FIRST-TERM INAUGURATION SPEECHES BY SELECTED NIGERIAN PRESIDENTS

Abstract

This paper explores how presidents-elect construct vagueness in first-term inauguration discourse. As presidents-elect, the pragmatic analysis of vagueness provides profound insights into their leadership reflections. The two presidents are President Muhammadu Buhari, 2015 and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, 2023. The selected speeches resonated with “I Belong to Everybody; I Belong to Nobody” by General Buhari; and “Fuel Subsidy Is Gone!” by Senator Tinubu. This study is underpinned by Jef Verschueren's (1999) Linguistics Adaptation Theory (LAT). Using LAT as basis for analysis, findings reveal that there are intentional vague constructions that instantiate four leadership stances in the selected inaugural speeches. Through intentional vagueness, the linguistic choice-making by the selected political leaders adapt to one of the three worlds: physical, social and mental worlds of adaptability so as to index theistic leadership (i.e., an adaptation to the face-saving accentuation of divine authority and self-abased humility), visionary leadership (i.e., an adaptation to the impracticality of an unusual discernment for improved living standards and opaque merging of the past to the present), democratic leadership (i.e., an adaptation to the illusion of liberalism, participatory civic engagements and reversal of anti-democratic deeds), and empathetic leadership (i.e., an adaptation to the questionable enunciation of fellow-feelings, good manners and appeal for solidarity building). This paper however argues that inauguration speeches by presidents-elect are discursively structured to attract patronages, rather than instil patriotism. It is concluded that the adaptability of intentional vague linguistic resources in inauguration discourse expands the frontiers of knowledge in political discourse.