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A Comparative Rhetorical Analysis of Nigerian Presidential Election 2015: a Public Relations Approach

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A Comparative Rhetorical Analysis of Nigerian Presidential Election 2015: A Public Relations Approach Musa Usman Terrang Submitted to the Institute of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Communication and Media Studies Eastern Mediterranean University September 2017 Gazimağusa, North Cyprus Approval of the Institute of Graduate Studies and Research _____________________________ Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ali Hakan Ulusoy Acting Director I certify that this thesis satisfies the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Master of Arts in Communication and Media Studies. _____________________________ Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ağah Gümüş Dean, Faculty of Communication and Media Studies We certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully adequate in scope and quality as a thesis for the degree of Master of Arts in Communication and Media Studies. _____________________________ Asst. Prof. Dr. Ülfet Kutoğlu Kuruç Supervisor Examining Committee 1. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hanife Aliefendioğlu _____________________________ 2. Asst. Prof. Dr. Ülfet Kutoğlu Kuruç _____________________________ 3. Asst. Prof. Dr. Baruck Opiyo _____________________________ ABSTRACT In the 21st century, competitive election campaigns have become one of the most visible faces of contemporary democracy through which the electorate in different countries get to choose their leaders into both local and national political office. This research employed PR approaches to investigate presidential campaigns of two main political parties in Nigeria during the 2015 presidential election. In doing so, the study employed Comparative Rhetorical Analysis and in-depth interview with 12 campaign managers as respondents to establish and analyze PR & rhetorical strategies used by the two main political parties – the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressive Congress (APC) during the presidential campaign and election period. Findings show that comparatively APC employed strategic and integrated PR with (more) effective rhetorical campaign elements which very likely enabled them to emerge winners due, largely, to effective use of articulated rhetoric, using good ethos, pathos, and logos; while also soundly using both the two-way symmetrical communication model and the two-way asymmetrical communication model professionally during the campaign period. The study finds that PDP, on the other hand, mainly relied on their usual political campaign approach dishing out money, impunity, hate speeches, and virtual absence of usage of two-way symmetrical communication model within the party which likely further affected their public outreach during the campaigns. The study concludes that APC won the election based on the “Change” campaign brand of the fight against corruption, better security for the citizenry, and good economy for the country; while PDP appears to have lost the election based on the reliance on the message of “continuity” agenda in spite of incumbency and having hired seasoned PR experts. iii Keywords: Excellence theory, Rhetorical Discourse Analysis, PR, Rhetoric, Electioneering campaign, APC, PDP, 2015 Presidential election in Nigeria. iv ÖZ 21. yüzyılda, rekabetçi seçim kampanyaları güncel demokrasinin, ulusal düzeyde ve daha bölgesel uygulanan seçimlerde, görünür yüzü olmuştur. Bu araştırma, Halkla ilişkiler yaklaşımları ile, Nijerya’daki iki ana siyasal partinin 2015 yılında yapılan başkanlık seçim kampanyalarını irdelemeyi hedeflemiştir. Çalışma, karşılaştırmalı retorik analizi ve 12 seçim kampanya yöneticisi ile yapılmış ropörtajlar neticesinde Nijerya’daki iki ana siyasal partinin ‘Halkların Demokratik Partisi’ (PDP) ve ‘Tüm İlerici Kongreler’ (APC) seçim sürecinde kullandıkları halkla ilişkiler ve retorik stratejilerini belirlemeyi amaçlamıştır. Bulgular ‘Tüm İlerici Kongreler’in (APC) daha etkili halkla ilşkiler ve retorik kampanya stratejileri (‘ethos’, ‘pathos’, ‘logos’) sayesinde seçimden kazanan parti olarak çıkmalarını sağladığını göstermektedir. Ayrıca. kampanya sürecinde çift-yönlü simetrik iletişim modeli ve çift-yönlü asimetrik iletişim modelleri APC tarafından etkili bir şekilde kullanmıştır. Bu araştırmada, ‘Halkların Demokratik Partisi’nin (PDP) daha çok finansal çıkarları gözetmek, kişisel dokunulmazlık sağlamak ve nefret söylemine dayanan bir politik kampanya yaklaşımı benimsediği ve özellikle parti içi iletişiminde çift-yönlü simetrik iletişim modelinden yoksun şekilde bir yaklaşım sergilediği bulgularına ulaşılmıştır. Sonuç olarak, ‘Tüm İlerici Kongrelerin’(APC) seçimi ‘Değişim’ sloganı adı altında yozlaşmaya karşı mücadele, vatandaşlar için güvenlik ve ülke için daha iyi eknonomi alt başlıklarını kullanarak kazandığı ortaya çıkmıştır. Buna karşın, ‘Devamlılık’ sloganı ile yola çıkmış olan ‘Halkların Demokratik Partisi’ (PDP) seçimi sezonluk halkla ilişkiler uzmanları kullanması ve hükümetteki söz sahibi parti olmasına rağmen kaybetmiştir. v Anahtar Kelimeler: Mükkemmeliyet Teorisi, Retorik Analizi, Halkla İlişkiler, Retorik, Seçim Kampanyası, APC, PDP, 2015 Nijerya Cumhurbaşkanlığı Seçimi. vi DEDICATION To my late father; Alhaji Usman Garba Terrang, and my beloved mother; Hajiya Fati Usman Garba Terrang vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I wish to thank Allah (SWT) the owner of heaven and earth for giving me the intellectual wisdom and in sparing my life for the journey so far in my academic life. It is with much gratitude that I wish to appreciate my supervisor, Asst. Prof. Dr. Ülfet Kutoğlu Kuruç and her husband for their kindness and support throughout the period of my research work. In addition, I wish to appreciate the 12 respondents and my snowballing guides for the text of speeches and press releases used, without which the research work would not have been successful. Furthermore, I most sincerely appreciate the good efforts of my jury members; Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hanife Aliefendioğlu and Asst. Prof. Dr. Baruck Opiyo for their continuing academic help, support, and guidance during my academic year and on the course of this study. While to all my Professors; in a special way, I wish to appreciate their efforts towards impacting productive knowledge to me and giving me an edge in my scope of reasoning and view of the academic and intellectual world. Finally, to all of my family members, friends, classmates, course mates, and well-wishers; I appreciate you all and I thank you very much for all your contributions to the success of my studies and to this research. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................. iii ÖZ .................................................................................................................................. v DEDICATION ............................................................................................................ vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ......................................................................................... viii LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................... xii LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................... xiii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ..................................................................................... xiv 1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background of theStudy ........................................................................................... 1 1.2 Purpose of the Study ................................................................................................ 3 1.3 Relevance of the Study............................................................................................. 3 1.4 Method of the Study ................................................................................................. 4 1.5 Research Questions .................................................................................................. 5 1.6 Limitations of the Study ........................................................................................... 5 2 NIGERIA: COUNTRY PROFILE AND POLITICS ................................................. 7 2.1 Profile of Nigeria...................................................................................................... 7 2.2 Regional and Ethnic Attributes of Nigeria’s 2015 Electioneering Campaign ....... 13 2.3 Introducing Nigerian Politics ................................................................................. 17 2.4 Democracy and Governance in Nigeria since Independence ................................. 19 2.5 Historical Development of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Nigeria ............. 20 2.6 Profile and Historical Development of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Nigeria .......................................................................................................................... 23 2.7 The Impact of Media and Public Relations on Electioneering Campaign of Nigeria .......................................................................................................................... 27 2.8 The Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) ................................................ 30 3 LITERATURE REVIEW.......................................................................................... 32 3.1 Political Communication and the 21st Century Campaign ...................................
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