DISCURSIVE STRATEGIES IN THE RELIGIOUS DISCOURSE OF SELECTED NATIVE DOCTORS FROM ANAMBRA STATE, NIGERIA

This study examines the discursive strategies of deception in the online religious discourse of selected native doctors from Anambra State Nigeria on Facebook and YouTube. The study focuses on how language is used to construct authority, influence audiences, and sustain patronage within the digital religious economy. Specifically, it investigates four manifestations of deceptive discourse: exaggerated claims of supernatural influence, fabricated testimonial narratives, selective highlighting of positive outcomes, and fear- inducing rhetoric. The study adopts Fairclough’s Dialectical- Relational Approach (DRA) to Critical Discourse Analysis, complemented by Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) and van Dijk’s concepts of ideology and social cognition. A qualitative research design was employed, and data were drawn from eight purposively selected recorded video excerpts involving four prominent online native doctors from Anambra State, Nigeria. Through textual, discursive, and social analysis, the study reveals that the practitioners strategically deploy transitivity, modality, appraisal resources, metaphor, imperatives, and performative declarations to construct spiritual authority and persuade audiences. The findings further show that social media platforms enhance the visibility, accessibility, popularity and commercialisation of these religious performances by enabling direct interaction with followers and potential clients. The study concludes that deceptive discourse in digital native doctor practices is sustained through linguistic manipulation, cultural symbolism, and fear- based persuasion, which collectively reinforce dependence on spiritual practitioners for economic, social, and personal solutions. The study contributes to scholarship on religious discourse, digital spirituality, and the intersection of language, ideology, and power in contemporary Nigerian society. Keywords:  Discursive, Ideology, Deception, Persuasion, Rhetoric