Persuasion and Politics in the President Muhammadu Buhari’s Address on Endsars Protest

Abstract

This study investigates persuasive strategies used in President Buhari‘s addresses during the EndSARS protest. Persuasion is crucial in the heart of political discourse as discursive activities regulate and stabilise sociopolitical crises in the society. The addresses were made to appeal to the aggrieved citizens and condemn the destructive activities that accompanied the protest. Electronic media serve as the source of data. The data were collected from President Buhari‘s Twitter and The Punch newspaper‘s website. The data were analysed using three concepts of Aristotle‘s rhetoric: pathos, ethos, and logos. The following findings were made from the analysis: diverse linguistic elements are used in the composition of political address; political address contains persuasive strategies which are identified through Aristotle‘s rhetoric concepts – pathos, ethos and logos; persuasive strategies are used in political addresses to perform various purposes to curb national crises. Political discourse is imbued with persuasive strategies required in handling sociopolitical crises.