“A MESSAGE OF HOPE”: UNPACKING RHETORICAL STRATEGIES IN PRESIDENT BOLA AHMED TINUBU’S 2025 INDEPENDENCE DAY SPEECH

Abstract

This study critically examines ideological and rhetorical strategies in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (BAT)’s 2025 Independence Day Speech with a view to demonstrating how the speech subtly but pragmatically functions beyond being a yearly ritualistic practice but significantly projecting the Tinubu-led administration’s commitment to its ‘renewed hope’ agenda. The theoretical anchor for this study is situated within the ambit of Speech Act Theory, Austin (1962) John Searle (1969), and relevant excerpts of the speech were purposively selected for analysis in this study. Findings reveal that speech is characterized by four rhetorical strategies:
assertives, directives, commissives and expressives. Assertives are deployed to state facts and recount the administration’s success, directives are deployed to make pleads for support from the citizens, commissives are deployed to further make promises and to plead that the citizens continually remain hopeful about the administration and expressives were employed to show solidarity and a sense of identification with the plight of the citizens. The study recommends that further studies on relevant political leaders in the country be conducted using speech acts to unravel how the speech of other political leaders can be significant in shaping the nation.