Discursive Structures in Matthew Kukah’s January 2020 Speech on the State of Insecurity in Nigeria

Abstract This study investigates the discourse structures in the state of the nation speech given by Mathew Kukah, the Bishop of Sokoto (Nigeria) Catholic Diocese in the wake of 2020. The study explores how the various discursive moves are deployed in Kukah’s speech to condemn the spate of insecurity in Nigeria as well as call for attitudinal change amongst Nigerians. The study adopts van Dijk’s (2004) critical discourse analytical model as theoretical frame of reference. This model supplies the material for the categorization of the discursive moves deployed for self-positive and other negative representation. The data is purposively selected because it is considered as interventionist and one of the objective appraisals of the insecurity situation in present-day Nigeria. The study revealed that seven discursive moves: lexicalization, comparison, victimization, rhetoric, authority, presupposition and burden are used by Kukah to delegitimize terrorism and religious intolerance, castigate President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration as well as give a wake-up call to all Nigerians. The study concludes that linguistic choices are deployed in Kukah’s speech to call for national re-awakening.