Political Pulpitary in Campaigns: An Analysis of APC Promissory Historiography (2015–2023)

This document investigated the presidential historiography performed by Nigeria’s All Progressives Congress (APC) from 2015 to 2023. Using political communication, endorsement from religious leaders, and populist rhetoric, the study examined the constructions of leadership of Muhammadu Buhari and Bola Ahmed Tinubu. This research was based on Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and examined 60 textual materials, such as presidential speeches, clerics’ sermons, and campaign/media documents, within the context of Postcolonial Theory and Political Myth. The research demonstrated the strategic application of mythic framing, providential language, and populist binaries as the enduring means by which the president of the APC is repositioned as providentially, historically, and morally warranted. Religious discourses served not only as ideological amplifiers but as historiographic practitioners of the seamless intersection of the pulpit and the politics of preaching policy. The press and campaign rhetoric exploited emotional and historical amnesia while revisionist, dissent-silencing and loyalty-manipulating discourses radicalising the politics served to suppress dissent and foster political loyalty. These discourses radicalised the politics served to suppress dissent and foster political loyalty. The paper made a case for a greater control of the media on the activities of the religious and the religious defenders of history of the politician. It suggested the introduction of ethical laws to control the partisanship of the pulpit, discursive pluralism in the media, and curriculum changes to foster civic engagement. This research expanded the corpus of works focused on postcolonial Africa’s political communication by focusing on the pressing need to deconstruct political historiography from radical ideological fabrication.