A SUBTEXTUAL IMPLICATURE OF SELECTED POLITICAL PROPHECIES ON 2023 ELECTIONS

A cursory look at the Nigerian situation during the 2023 elections has shown that despite the enormity of human capital, economic resources, and entrepreneurial abilities that Nigeria has in abundance to build and maintain a politically stable and harmonious society, democratic competency has eluded the nation. The 2023 elections in Nigeria brought with them hopes and fears, expectations and optimism for a better future. However, forces fought inadvertently to truncate the elections, imperil our nascent democracy, dim the light and bring all our political calculations to nothing. These seemingly imperceptible forces were powerful, subtle and distinct but not mutually exclusive. They include using intemperate language by the candidates; direct insulting or derogatory statements or innuendoes to vilify each other; the preponderance of fake news by the media; judicial rascality, fake calculations of votes and results, insecurity, food scarcity, cashless economy, etc. Amid the mayhem came prophecies from different clergymen and others. This study adopted a pragmatic approach to x-ray the subtextual implicatures of these selected political prophecies on 2023 elections, their contents, forms, hidden meanings and implicatures. Data for the study was mainly derived from social media and newspapers. Paul Grice's theory of conversational implicatures and John Searle's Speech Acts theory were deployed in analysing the prophecies. Findings reveal that unravelling the meanings of the prophetic discourses transcends mere decoding of textual messages, which is characterised by imageries, metaphors and innuendos. There is also a broad distinction between the semantic and the expressive. This study advises Nigerians to instead work towards good governance, equity, and justice and building a sound democratic nation where every individual, tribe and community is considered more important than relying on political prophecies.

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