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Item Delegitimating the Nigerian state and other anti-Boko Haram in selected messages of Abubakar Shekau(Routledge: Taylor & Francis Group, 2024) Osisanwo, A.This paper examines the delegitimation of the Other in selected messages of Boko Haram (BH), using seven of the messages delivered by the longest-serving BH leader, Abubakar Shekau. The messages delivered during Shekau’s period as the BH leader between 2009 and 2021, were identified using f4analyse as a coding tool and discussed analytically using Theo van Leeuwen’s Discourse Legitimation approach to discourse analysis. The analysis unearths Shekau’s deployment of four delegitimation strategies: authorisation, moralisation, rationalisation and mythopoesis to discredit the actions and practices of the Other – those who do not associate with BH. The four delegitimation strategies are linguistically realised through negative other-presentation strategy. The messages deployed polarisation, other-condemnation, other-blaming, negative tagging (derogatory labelling/nomination) of anti-BH, otherexclusivity in perceived positive contexts, metaphorising, hyperbolising and euphemising to accentuate in-group consensus and ingroup solidarity. The strategies are deployed to negatively represent the Other in order to delegitimise their actions, beliefs and principles.Item Stance and engagement in E-punch newspaper readers' comments on former president Goodluck Jonathan administration's war against Boko Haram terrorism in Nigeria.(English Scholars' Association of Nigeria, 2017) Osisanwo, A.Boko Haram terrorism in Nigeria has lingered on for almost a decade. The terrorism has had some effects on Nigeria, and the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan condemned the act, and declared a total war against the group. Linguistic studies on terrorism with bias for Boko Haram have largely dwelt on other areas but the examination of the online readers’ comments on the war against terrorism. Yet, it is capable of revealing the public perception of the government’s success or failure in the war against Boko Haram terrorism, the media intents, and the Boko Haram operations. This study, therefore, examines the discourse strategies deployed by readers, taking different stances on former President Goodluck Jonathan administration’s fight against Boko Haram terrorism, through their comments on the e-Punch newspaper reports. For data, 751 comments, constituting a corpus of 22,512 words on six purposively selected news items on the 2014 e-Punch Newspaper website were sampled. Guided by stance and engagement theory on interaction, the readers’ comments by participants were subjected to discourse analysis. The online readers’ comments on the war on Boko Haram terrorism implicated and condemned the administration while some suggested solutions. Some of their stances were fuelled by religiousity, ethnicity and partisanship. Nevertheless, they deployed different engagement techniques, including questioning, shared knowledge, personal asides, directives, among others, to convince other participants or call the administration to order. It is recommended that e-Punch and other media outlets be proactive in moderating what participants post online in order to curb avoidable crisis.Item Conceptual Metaphors in Newspaper Reportage of the War on Boko Haram Terrorism in Nigeria(Faculty of Arts, University of Ibadan, 2017) Osisanwo, A.The government of Nigeria has continued to wage (a) war on Boko Haram (BH) terrorists in Nigeria. Previous linguistic studies on (war on) Boko Haram terrorism in Nigeria have examined the media reportage of the BH activities, while such studies have not paid sufficient attention to metaphorisations in the representations of the news reports. This study, therefore, identifies conceptual metaphors deployed by the selected newspapers in representing the war on BH terrorism. Headline and overline stories are purposively sampled from four newspapers, published between 2011 and 2014, from the northern and southern parts of Nigeria. The purposively selected newspapers, Daily Trust, Leadership Nigeria, The Punch and The Nation, widely reported BH activities. The conceptual metaphor theory, complemented with systemic functional grammar, provided theoretical underpinnings; and the analysis reveals that the newspapers metaphorically conceptualise BH terrorism as war, evil and crime. The newspapers' metaphorical conceptualisations have cognitively tasked the readers. Readers' experience in relation to BH terrorism has been linked to the understanding of one thing in terms of the other.Item Discursive representation of Boko Haram terrorism in selected Nigerian newspapers(Sage Publications, 2016) Osisanwo, A.Studies on terrorism with bias towards Boko Haram (BH) have mainly been carried out from nonlinguistic fields. The few linguistics-related studies that have examined the media reportage of the BH activities, with emphasis on the discourse and linguistic strategies deployed in the representations, have not been sufficient. This study, therefore, identifies the linguistic and discourse strategies deployed by selected newspapers in representing the BH and other social actors. For data, headline and overline stories are purposively sampled from four newspapers, published from 2011 to 2014, from the northern (Daily Trust and Leadership Nigeria) and southern (The Punch and The Nation) parts of Nigeria. The analysis is guided by a combination of critical discourse analysis and systemic functional linguistics. In all the reports subjected to analysis, 13 representational strategies were identified, while at least 15 tools from Van Leeuwen’s categorisations were used in representing social actors. The newspapers also deployed discourse strategies to manage the voices of social actors, identify and specify the social actors and action, label, condemn BH activities, among others. The mediated reports on BH insurgency orientate Nigerians.