Abstract:
Olusegun Obasanjo‘s non-fictional texts explicate a representation of Nigerian socio-political
history and have stirred up serious national political arguments. Extant studies on Obasanjo‘s
self-constructs have mostly concentrated on his speeches, with little attention paid to his nonfictional texts and examined lexicalisation, hedges, and (de)responsibilisation strategies. This
study was, therefore, designed to examine Olusegun Obasanjo‘s rhetorical argumentation, selfrepresentational strategies and self-representation constructs in his non-fictional texts in order
to establish his construction of discourse-mediated reality through arguments.
Ruth Wodak‘s Discourse Historical Approach, complemented by Paul van den Hoven‘s
Rhetorical Discourse Analysis and Stephen Toulmin‘s Model of Argument, was used as the
framework. The descriptive design was adopted. Olusegun Obasanjo‘s My Command (MC),
Not My Will (NMW) and My Watch (MW) were purposively selected because of the texts‘
influence in Nigeria‘s historical and political debates. Data were subjected to discourse
analysis.
Fifteen rhetorical argumentation techniques, three self-representation strategies, and four selfrepresentation constructs were used in the texts. The techniques are ethotic appeal,
counterpoint, self-mentions, pseudo-logical fallacy, pathetic argument, us-them dichotomy,
biblical eisegesis exemplification, ad-hominiem, analogies, cause and effect, moral, perceptive,
rational and quasi-logical argumentations. The strategies are predication, referential and
perspectivisation. These were captured in four self-representational constructs: Obasanjo as a
nationalist, Nigeria‘s predestined watchman, a revered Owu man and a gallant Nigerian
soldier-politician. Obasanjo as a nationalist utilised perspectivisation, referential, and
predication strategies phrased in the us-them dichotomy to justify self as the main actor on the
stage, selfless leader, and the reformer of a modern Nigeria and others as bigots, cynics, corrupt
and self-centred politicians. Obasanjo as Nigeria‘s predestined watchman was premised on
biblical eisegesis and consciously controlled mimesis through the metaphoric construction of
self as a mover and God-chosen. Obasanjo utilised syntactically-subordinated discourse units
and deictic devices ‗I‘, with its variants ‗my‘ or ‗me‘, to show commitment, shouldering of
national responsibility, and assertion of personal authority and power. His representation of
self as a revered Owu man was premised on historical facts (1821 Owu Massacre) and
presumptions (Ifo Market Day) phrased in an elliptic evocation (Pre-colonial Nigeria) and
generalised beliefs (Owu ancestral civility). Obasanjo used pseudo-logical fallacies, ethos, and
counterpoint as argumentation strategies for clarifying and modifying positions. The discursive
construction of Obasanjo as a gallant Nigerian soldier-politician utilised the linguistic process
of us-them narration that was grounded on moral, perceptive, rational, and quasi-logical
argumentation. These were manifested by metaphoric descriptions, ethos, analogies, cause and
effect, definition, and exemplifications in presenting the credibility of the discourse world to
establish, affirm and vindicate self. While MC establishes Obasanjo‘s quest for nationalism,
NMW focuses on the description of self as Nigeria‘s reformer, and MW updates and reaffirms
his divine commitment as Nigeria‘s watchman.
Obasanjo‘s rhetorical argumentations were built on culture-implicit beliefs, and formed a
constitutive part of his self-representation strategies and constructs and these accounted for the
discrepancies between the mediated discourse world and the constructed reality in the texts.