A critical discourse analysis of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu’s handover message

Geraldine Ifesinachi Nnamdi-Eruchalu

Abstract


The paper sets out to analyze the ideological impact of
Ojukwu’s Handover Message on the Biafrans as they
persevered in the Nigerian-Biafran War for which they
obviously were ill-prepared. The theoretical framework
deployed in this study is Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)
using van Dijk’s (2006) overall strategies of the Ideological
Square which associate we with good things, and them with
bad ones. The analysis shows that the discursive structures
selected by Odumegwu Ojukwu in the speech reflect the
ideologies of the Biafrans which ignited and sustained in them
the fighting spirit to continue to defend Biafra against all odds.

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