A Critical Stylistic Analysis of Pastor Tunde Bakare’s Political Thoughts on Leadership and Citizenship Tasks in Consolidating Nigeria’s Democracy

Abstract

One aspect of Nigeria’s national life where the Pentecostal movement has impacted on the directions of national discourse in terms of political activism is how some Pentecostal pastors interrogate the essentials of nurturing Nigeria’s fledgling democracy. This article examines the use of linguistic resources to thread ideology in Pastor Tunde Bakare’s selected political teachings which explore leadership-citizenship responsiveness required for building an enduring democratic culture in Nigeria. Data for the study were collected from the pastor-activist’s “State of the Nation” blog between January 2016 and January 2017 at a critical time when Nigeria was sliding into the depths of a recession. The study applies the tools of Jeffries’ (2010) Critical Stylistics – a sub-discipline of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) – to analyse the linguistic threads which convey the ideology of the text. The study shows that the discourse producer is radical in the ideological structuring of the text to ignite the nationalistic obligations of the audience towards consolidating democratic norms and values in line with global best practices. It also shows that he creatively deploys stylistic markers which fit in with the political context-cum-rhetoric of mobilising his audience for political action.