and topicality. It was motivated by a desire to construct an understanding of the language component of the Nigerian body polity that makes visible and analyzable the contemporary issues of power and ideology in the Nigerian political discourse. This understanding is crucial, not only as an academic endeavour, but also as a theoretical ground for both linguistic and social action. The knowledge of power and ideology, to borrow from Paulo Freire, “is an important part of praxis, the action and reflection of men and women upon their world in order to transform it” (Freire, 1970: 66 is cited in Hobday, 2006:1). This is consistent with the aim of the critical discourse analytical study of the APC‟s manifesto which deploys Fairclough‟s Dialectical - Relational Approach to Critical Discourse Analysis (henceforth, CDA). The study is thus premised on the view of language as not merely reflecting but determining reality. This view is central to much contemporary thinking about the relation between language and society. In this view, language does more than saying, it does more than pass on information or reflect existing reality. It is about action and interaction (including political actions and interactions). In this regard, Birch (1990:167)asserts that “language is not a neutral instrument, it is biased in a thousand ways, and those ways of course are determined by any number of differing ideologies, knowledge and power systems and institutions”.

It follows that any linguistic enquiry should, in addition to being aware of the ideologies involved in the construction and reception of discourse in general (and Political Discourse in particular), also be aware of the theoretical and methodological assumptions which form its own practices(Billig, 2003; van Dijk, 2005). To buttress this fact, Fowler and

Kress (1979) cited in Birch (1990:171)argue that “language is not just a reflex of social processes and structures, but contributes instrumentally to the consolidation of existing social structures and material conditions”. The point being made here is that the structures of language cannot be separated from language use since texts are the linguistic part of complicated communicative interactions.  

Thus this study examines the ideological representations of economic and socio-political events in Nigeria (under the then ruling People's Democratic Party, henceforth, PDP). This involves not only how language use in the APC‟s manifesto demonstrates the party's engagement in power struggle but also how the representation exercises power in shaping people's interpretation of Nigeria. This endeavour is significant especially as politics the world over is germane to the key issues of power, ideology, legitimization, persuasion and struggles for dominance. However, CDA is more concerned with the opacity of texts than with the transparency of text or talk. The concern of CDA is with, according to Locke

(2004:40) “the discursive constructions or stories that are embedded in texts as

information that is less readily available to consciousness”. 

In the different kinds of text or discourse that can qualify as political: interviews in the print or electronic media, campaign speeches, parliamentary debates, manifestos (as in this case), to mention only a few, some of these key issues are implicitly or explicitly underscored (Taiwo, 2010). This is because scholars in CDA amalgamating linguistic and social theories argue that discourse is part of the social processes and practices (Fairclough, 2000). In the APC's manifesto, language as a semiosis is an element of the social process which is dialectically related to ideology and politics. Fairclough (1989:

23) captures the social conditioning of language when he asserts that “linguistic phenomena are social in the sense that when people speak or listen or read or write, they do so in ways which are determined socially and have social effects”.

Language and politics are interwoven. Politics is one of the major events that pervade the social world of mankind, and language is the creator, enricher and sustainer of this social world. To buttress how this underscores the intimate link between language and politics at a fundamental level, Chilton (2004: 6) posits that “the doing of politics is predominantly constituted in language”. There are other scholars who corroborate this close link between language and politics. For example, Awonusi (2008: 10) sees the relationship between language and politics as “bidirectional”. He means that language affects politics and politics affects language. Opeibi (2009) on his part sees the relationship as “symbiotic”. Buttressing further these assertions is Beard (2000) who identifies the whole essence of politics as the wish to gain power, exercise power and keep power, and “language is the major vehicle for achieving these goals” (Beard, 2000:2). Thus, politics is concerned with power: the power to make decisions, to control resources, to control other people's behaviour, and to control their values. It is language which expresses this power. Ayoade, a famous Nigerian political scientist rightly says that “language is the conveyor belt of power. It moves people to vote, debate, or revolt. It is therefore, central explanation of political stability or polarization” (Ayoade, 1982 is cited in Ademilokun and Taiwo, 2013:347). 

Political Discourse, a strand of CDA is a unique discourse token that reflects the dynamicity of language and its environment. Numerous scholars have indeed given this aspect of discourse different meanings. According to Wilson (2003: 398):

 Political discourse is concerned with formal and informal political  contexts  and political actors, politicians, political institutions, governments, political  media,  and political supporters operating in  political environments to achieve  political goals. 

Commenting on the same topic, Alvarez-Cáccamo and Prego- Vásquez (2003), cited in

Ayoola (2008: 160), view public political discourse as “a form of appropriation and an inherently asymmetrical tool for power”. However, van Dijk, one of the leading scholars in CDA offers a more encompassing definition of this field of linguistic enquiry. He succinctly says it is “a class of genres defined by a social domain, namely that of politics” (Van Dijk, 1998). This definition therefore confines the concept of political discourse to the „linguistic behaviour‟ of politicians and political parties. Hence, van Dijk (2001b) says further that a Political Discourse is one that accomplishes a political act in a political institution, such as governing, legislation, electoral campaigning, and so on. Specifically, he notes that: 

 A study of the topics, coherence, arguments, lexical style, . . . of a  political  discourse may of course reveal much about the unique character of such a  discourse, and also allows inferences about the cognitive, social and  especially political functions of such discourse (Van Dijk, 2001a: 30).

From these submissions, suffice it to say that the use of language in the APC‟s manifesto, which is the focus of this study, constitutes political discourse. It then becomes worthy to examine how the signifying practices in the discourse of the APC‟s manifesto reflect or demonstrate some of the concerns of CDA such as ideology, power abuse and

discrimination. Therefore, the motivation for this study hinges less on the need to describe how the manifesto as a campaign tool for the 2015 general elections in Nigeria has effectively or otherwise presented political and social issues in its texts than on how language figures in such (re)presentation. This is in keeping with Wodak's point that “the notions of ideology, power, hierarchy and gender together with sociological variables were all seen as relevant for an interpretation or explanation of text” (Wodak, 2001:6).

1.2         APC’s Manifesto: Composition and Style

The APC‟s manifesto is a compact booklet with a formal dedication on how to insure the

Nigerian state. It may be described in the words of Miller as “typified rhetorical actions based in recurrent situations” (Miller,1984 is cited in Collin, 2012: 76). For this study, it is a tour de force and a superlative masterpiece instancing the essence of the party's political philosophy. It spells out the APC‟s universal mission, namely the organization and administration of power. Power conceived as the resource through which legitimacy and hegemony are secured (Galadima, 2014; Momo, 2014). In addition to the introduction which is entitled „An Honest Contract for Nigeria‟, the APC‟s manifesto is structured into three parts. The first part deals with the strategies of statecraft: job creation and the provision of health, education and housing, tackling poverty and insecurity. Part two deals with building the economic substructure: modern infrastructure, agriculture and good governance. The last part concerns the administration of justice and foreign policy, among others. The formal presentation or representation of these issues in the manifesto has important implications for the APC‟s imaginative and practical conception of reality, politics and human significance which motivates a critical discourse analytical study.

In its narratological framework, the APC in the manifesto is a narrative scheme or device which is used to hang the narrative together to give the prose vigour and speed. The need for dramatic effects derives the discourse. And the APC is made into a sort of creator who tells the story and moves the plot. This narrator becomes pervasive as the alterego of the manifesto, the hero of the tale. On this reading, the addressee – Nigeria, and sometimes – the then ruling PDP, are only discursive subjects and the APC – the writer, the discoursing subject. Thus in the trio of Nigeria, PDP and APC is a salient construction of social actors but who are at the same time the ever-present ideational and technical resources of both the narrative and discourse. The effects are: the APC manifesto's rational disposition, its realist diction, systematic argumentation and great economy. Examples: 

•       The APC‟s manifesto is different. (p. 2)

•       We listen, we promise, we deliver. (p. 3)

•       In order to fulfil our commitment to Nigerians, the building block of our human development plan will be implemented through coherent health, education and social welfare policies. (p. 3)

•       Today many parts of Nigeria are wracked by chaos and violence…(p. 18)

•       We must restore faith in our institutions and leaders (p. 38)

•       No society can progress where half of its population suffers systemic

discrimination (p. 42) 

Often, the PDP‟s political thought and moral discourse are repeatedly challenged, deconstructed, critiqued and rejected in sentences like:

•       When this democratic dispensation commenced in 1999, the federal government that emerged did not tell Nigerians what its vision was for the country. (p. 2)

•       Tens of thousands of innocent Nigerians have been killed due to government neglect of security; poverty and unemployment have multiplied due to the perverse economic policies. (p. 2).

Furthermore, the APC‟s manifesto is replete with dichotomous sentences – such that positions two extreme and antithetical solutions. For instance: it is no longer a question of choice but of will and courage (p. 6). The manifesto also has almost a dialectical structure; that is a polarized binary structure of argumentation. For example:

•       In the midst of penury and economic hardship, small elite live in almost unimaginable wealth and luxury (p. 8).

•       Without urgent action on employment, Nigeria is in danger of spiraling into

further social unrest (p. 9)

•       It is not just the production of cash crops that has fallen off. Food production in general has been declining since the 1960s (p. 34).

•       For too many Nigerians, government is a burden rather than a help (p. 38).

With these patterns of sentence structure and lexical choice, the APC‟s manifesto is utterly self-conscious. To wit, it is politically pungent, critical and sensitive, linguistically economical and socially indignant, rapid and taut. For the purpose of this study, therefore, the manifesto's narrative structure, composition and style are seen as the effects of an objectively covert combination of relations and forces, driven by the mode of production of material goods, culture and discourse within the Nigerian political and discursive formations. Thus the object is a critical analysis rather than an evaluation of these sentences‟ truth conditions. The reason being the origin of a belief or ideology (as conceived in this study) is not central, or even relevant, to its evaluation as true or false.

In a word, the aim is to critically analyze the APC‟s manifesto in the light of a Dialectical Relational Approach within the CDA paradigm.

1.3        Statement of the Research Problem 

In any form of persuasive rhetoric on screen, in speech or in print, be it advertisement, interview or manifesto (as in this case), language is employed in varied and mediated ways by its users to represent aspects of the social world (reality). Hence, how Nigeria is governed is informed by the narratives of the ruling class, political elites or institutions.

The choices made in language to tell „these stories‟ are not neutral, but reflective and formative of power, ideologies and values. Without an investigation of how power operates in such discursive domain, power often remains invisible. This invisibility does not mean that it has been neutralized or shared equally among interested Nigerians. It rather means that the prevailing power structures continue to operate. Thus, this study examines the manifesto of the APC to reveal how it constructs, manipulates, maintains and portrays power and mediates ideology and the other enabling linguistic values. This is necessitated by the absence, to the best of knowledge of this researcher, of any completed linguistic investigation or critical discourse analysis of the APC‟s manifesto in Nigeria. 

The motivation hinges on the need to describe how the APC‟s manifesto as a campaign tool for the 2015 general elections in Nigeria presents policy statements in its texts,but particularly, how languagefigures in such (re)presentations.Taiwo, (2010: 173) identifies the issues that shape discourse in the Nigerian political scene as “corruption and mismanagement of resources, human right abuses, ethno-religious violence, flawed electoral process, and so forth”.Incidentally, these issues are found to be the thematic concerns of theAPC‟s manifesto as an electoral campaign organ, particularly as an opposition party (initially), to highlight the inefficiencies of the government in power. It is the belief of this study that an analysis that reveals how parties through manifestoes linguistically construct ideological representations and how such representations exercise power in shaping people‟s interpretation of events are bothimperative and necessary. A working assumption, therefore, is that the APC‟s manifesto is a social construct whose discourse embodies ideologies and reflects unequal power relations. Thus, the study deals with the properties of relations between social groups. That is to say while focusing on social power purely personal power is overlooked, unless enacted as an individual realization of political group power, that is, by individuals as members of the APC.

1.4         Research Questions

This study formulates the following research questions to guide its study:

1.     What socio-political context influence the discursive features of language use in the APC‟s manifesto?

2.     How does language use in the APC‟s manifesto advance specific ideologies? Or how are political ideologies constructed, articulated and redefined by linguistic resources in the APC‟s manifesto?

3.     How are power relations articulated and maintained within the discourse of the

APC‟s manifesto? 

4.     What contextual and cultural elements do shape the APC manifesto‟s discourse?

5.     What are the implications of the APC‟s discursive mechanisms on how agencies

are positioned in such discursive power structures?

1.5         Aim and Objectives of the Study

The aim of this research is to undertake a critical discourse analytical study of the APC‟s manifesto. The attainment of this aim hinges on enabling an understanding of how English language works to express unequal power relations and mediate ideologies in the selected manifesto. Specific objectives of the study are to:

1.     identify the discursive features of the APC‟s manifesto and relate same to the socio-political context of its discourse.

2.     identify the significant linguistic resources used to define, construct and articulate the APC‟s ideology.        

3.     analyze how the APC manifesto‟s discourse articulates and maintains unequal power relations.

4.     discuss what really produces the contextual and cultural elements that shape the

APC manifesto‟s discourse.

5.     examine how agency is positioned and the implications of the APC‟s language use  on subjects or subject positions.

1.6         Significance of the Study 

The critical discourse analytical study of the APC‟s manifesto is significant because as a campaign tool, the manifesto has wide ranging effects on the public. It is also significant because the APC is the first opposition political party in Nigeria to unseat an incumbent president through the instrumentality of the ballot box. It is topical and recent. The influence of its manifesto in Nigeria has not received much attention. Accounts of language use in political communication whether by politicians or authors of manifestoes need a critical analytic approach if the electorates as well as language specialists are to decode its message and receive the desired impact.The study will help both voters and patrons in Nigerian politics to understand language in ways which are communicatively effective, rewarding and appropriate. This study enhances the manifesto‟s accessibility, facilitate the soaring of its message and ease the decoding of its ideology for the advancement of Nigeria‟s democracy.

Available literature shows that only little attention has been paid to the critical language use of anopposition party which wrestled power from a ruling party. It is hopeful that this study contributesto and expand the knowledge of political discourse; and also as a proof that CDA is an empirical tool for the analysis of the political discourse of both opposition parties and the governing party.Indeed, much of the writings and speechesof politicians express ideologically grounded opinions. In this light, this study offers students, researchers, and policy makers special insight into how the APC‟s manifesto constructs ideologies by the dint of language use, and wield social power through consent in the stead of coercion; that is, power as enacted by persuasion, dissimulation or manipulation, among the many strategic ways to change the mind of Nigerians in the political party‟s own interest. The study contributes to the extant body of knowledge and also opens the floodgate for further research in the field. This research, hopefully, brings novel dimensions to the linguistic study of language use in political party discourses in Nigeria and in the world far and wide. Specifically, it contributes by bringing linguistic, empirical, and qualitative methodological approaches, in a word, multi disciplinarity into the study of the discursive practices in the APC‟s manifesto. 

1.7         Justification for the Study

There are normative reasons why a critical discourse analytical study of the APC‟s manifesto is urgently called for. First, political reality is a social construct, manufactured through discursive practices and shared systems of meaning. Language does not simply reflect this reality, it actually co-constitutes it. Consequent upon which this study highlights the discoursal functions of language employed by the APC. Second, the APC manifesto‟s discourse employs linguistic resources which engender ideologies and power which this study reveals their features and implications. Third, the composition of the APC‟s manifesto requires a significant degree of political and social consensus and a consensus is inconceivable without language. These three points justify the critical discourse analytical study of the APC‟s manifesto. 

This study is also justified on the basis that previous studies and analyses of the discourses of political parties only portrayed their rhetoric and related categories. Only little attention (as the review of empirical previous studies in the next chapter shows) has been paid to the critical language use of an opposition party(which wrestled power from a ruling party). The APC being a major opposition political party at inception, the selected manifesto is a landmark political discourse where the use of language as a tool for achieving ideological and political goal deserves a critical attention. The present study reveals the plethora of ideologies embedded in the discourse used to sway the people. 

1.8         Scope and Delimitation

This research is a critical discourse analytical study of the APC‟s manifesto. The APC comprises the former three biggest opposition parties – Congress for Progressive Change

(CPC), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and All Nigeria People‟s Party (ANPP), and a faction of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). The political situation and context which this study makes reference to is the Nigeria‟s fourth republic.  

It is, perhaps, needless to say that no research has the ability to unravel all the problematic areas in its field and beyond, which thereby makes it categorical for the review of all research studies. Accordingly, this study has its limits due to the barrier of space, resource, exposure and time. It is not feasible to make a comprehensive analysis of all the manifestoes of political parties or opposition political parties in Nigeria. The scope of the study is limited to doing a critical discourse analytical study of the APC‟s manifesto. Some contextual concepts and linguistic analysis are employed to actualize the objectives of the study and get at the meaning of the manifesto. Thus, CDA here implies both a micro and macro linguistic analysis of the APC manifesto's discourse.

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