Discursive Construction of Synonymous Relations in Political Speeches: the Case of Some President Olusegun Obasanjo's Speeches

Existing studies on political discourse have investigated the role of language in propaganda, the emotive use of language by politicians, the ideological undertone of modal verbs in political speeches, often ignoring the discursive use of synonyms, especially in the Nigerian context. This paper thus examines the discursive construction of synonyms in selected speeches of former Nigerian president, Olusegun Obasanjo with the aim of identifying the ideological implication of the synonymous construction in the speeches.  Obasanjo is seen as a nationalist who has fought for the unity of the country, handed over to a civilian government in realisation of his promise, and, thus, become a major player in the governance of the country.  His speeches are worth studying as he was the first military head of state to be elected a civilian president, thereby leading the country on two good occasions. Twelve speeches were purposively sampled comprising those he made as a military head of state and as a civilian president. These periods are important in Nigeria’s political history. The study adopted evaluative semantics and sociocognitive approach of critical discourse analysis as theoretical basis.  The former accounts for the synonymous relations in the speeches and the latter, their ideological import. The findings show that the synonymous relations represent optimism and expectations from individual, society and institution. Synonyms related to optimism are characterised by government’s commitment to positive change, transformation and hope, while synonyms that relate to issue of expectation from the individual, the society and institutions are characterised by societal development, forbearance, disorder, healthy information management and dissemination, and negative practices and values. Thus, these synonymous relations, when considered together with the co(n)text, reflect Obasanjo’s reformist agenda.