JOSUGA: JOS JOURNAL OF HUMANITIES

This paper is a pragmatic assessment that focuses on how language functions as a tool for political resistance and human existence. Data is drawn from Dr. Yusuf Datti Baba Ahmed’s post-election televised rejoinder following Nigeria’s 2023 presidential election and the issuance of the certificate of return to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu by Professor Yakubu Mahmood, the then INEC Chairman. The objectives of the study among others are to: investigate how speech acts are used to perform political resistance and warn against perceived constitutional violations; explore what implicatures and inferences are embedded in the speaker’s utterances and how they contribute to the persuasive force of the message; and examine how the socio-political context of post-election Nigeria affects the interpretation of this rejoinder within Relevance Theory. Drawing on Speech Act Theory, Relevance Theory, and Politeness Theory, the study reveals how the speaker strategically uses directives, assertives, commissives, declaratives, implicatures, and face-threatening acts to challenge perceived constitutional violations while asserting ethical and legal authority. The study integrates concepts from three theories into a theoretical framework to underscore the value of a multi-theoretical pragmatic framework in interpreting political texts, especially in contexts marked by political resistance, human existence, and heightened public emotion. The findings from a multifaceted assessment of illocutionary force, contextual inference, politeness, and deixis contribute to existing research on political pragmatics within Nigeria, thereby illustrating how language both reflects and reshapes democratic struggle in transitional electoral societies. 

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