Rhetorical Devices in Political Campaign: A Study of Selected 2022/2023 Campaign Speeches of Atiku Abubakar

Abstract

This study examines the use of rhetorical devices in the campaign speeches of Atiku Abubakar; a former presidential aspirant. Rhetorical devices are employed in political speeches as a technique for persuasion and manipulation of the electorates in order to obtain their support. This study therefore, aims to explore and identify the persuasive devices employed by Atiku Abubakar, and the underlying ideologies behind his usage of the devices. The study adopts Norman Fairclough's three-dimensional model of Critical Discourse analysis as a tool for data analysis. Data for the study comprises of Atiku's speeches as contained in the dailies. The findings reveal that Atiku, in a bid to persuade the electorates, employed rhetorical devices like repetition, parallelism, metaphor, pronouns and personification. The study further discovers that the devices are employed in different context to drive a message home.