Appraisal of Resources in Post-Election Defeat-Concession Speeches of Some Gubernatorial Candidates in Southwestern Nigeria, 2014-2015

Abstract

Introduction Elections are an important aspect of the political processes in the democratic system of any nation. According to Opeibi (2009), elections can be said to be the heart of any political system. Given the importance of elections in determining the person or people who have access to state power and the desire of most politicians to acquire state power, a lot of effort is invested into preparations for elections. Since language is central to all human actions and endeavors, including politics, also becomes largely implicated in the electoral processes as politicians and the electoral umpires use language to achieve their desired results. Therefore, language use in relation to electoral matters constitutes an important aspect of political discourse, which broadly refers to all talks and texts in the domain of politics (van Djik, 1997). Political discourse has enjoyed generous attention from scholars in diverse disciplines including linguistics, which serves as the orientation of this study. Political discourse occupies a strategic space as is not a mere linguistic exercise or adventure, but often has serious political implications. According to van Djik (1997), political discourse analysis has a lot to offer political science as can answer serious political questions or raise awareness about political realities or processes, especially if it focuses on features of discourse which are relevant to the purpose or function of the political process or event whose discursive dimension is being analysed (van Djik 1997:38). Linguistic studies on Nigerian political discourse have focused on sub-genres of the discourse such as political speeches, political advertisements, political rally campaigns, political interviews, legislative discourse, revealing the dynamics of political mobilization and practices by the country's successive political actors. However, of all the different aspects of political discourse studied in Nigeria, political speeches seem to have enjoyed the greatest attention. The popularity of political speeches in Nigerian political discourse can be attributed to the fact that political speeches such as Independence Day speeches, inauguration speeches and campaign speeches all serve as useful platforms for the ventilation of the views of politicians on important national issues. Therefore, scholars have consistently researched into the speeches with a view to analyzing the ideologies of the politicians and the implications for the people while also revealing the linguistic and persuasive features of the speeches. Political speeches in Nigerian political discourse can however be classified into two categories: pre-election speeches and post-election speeches. Pre-election speeches are, among others, manifestos, political debates and political rally speeches. Post-election speeches, however, focus on reactions to, and reflections on conducted elections and the political activities of elected politicians. Such speeches are victory speeches of winners of elections, legislative speeches, Independence Day speeches, New Year day speeches, budget speeches, inauguration speeches of politicians and concession or post-election defeat speeches. A survey of the literature on political speeches in Nigeria however shows that while the full range of pre-election speeches has been remarkably subjected to linguistic analysis, same hardly applies to post-election speeches. Although some post-election speeches such as legislative speeches, victory speeches, Independence Day speeches have been studied, post-election defeat-concession speeches have not enjoyed much significant linguistic analysis. As stated earlier, post-election defeat speeches refer to the speeches of political candidates upon electoral defeat. Such speeches can also be referred to as concession speeches. However, the reality of the Nigerian situation is that some politicians upon losing elections do not concede victory but rather use language to show their resolve to challenge the victory of their opponents at the tribunal or condemn their loss and its circumstances outright. …