A PRAGMATIC ANALYSIS OF PRESIDENT YAR’ADUA’S COMMITMENT TO THE RULE OF LAW IN NIGERIA

Abstract

In his inaugural speech on 29^th May 2007, Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua presented a seven-point agenda for transforming Nigeria during his tenure as the Executive President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The successful implementation of the agenda as he claimed is essentially dependent on the strict observance of the rule of law. In his words, “this government is rooted in the rule of law, anchored on good governance and driven by an uncommon sense of service.” In this paper, we examine President Yar’Adua’s avowed commitment to due process and rule of law within the theoretical prism of Austin’s (1962) speech acts theory and determine the extent to which his various speech acts on the rule of law fulfill the felicity conditions as well as obey the cooperative principles and also conform to Paul Grice’s four maxims of quality, quantity, relevance and manner. Results of the analysis tend to show that in a good number of variable cases, Mr. President’s speech acts on rule of law generates an illocutionary force that is considered infelicitous for falling short of the felicity conditions and also violating the four maxims. The implications of this for sustainable constitutional democracy in Nigeria and also the seven-point agenda intended as a magic wand for transforming Nigeria into one of the developed economies in the world by the year 2020 impose an urgent demand on Mr. President to match his words with actions. Failure in this regard would perhaps provide the tonic for pooh-poohing Mr. President’s respect for rule of law quite often touted with parliamentary cadence as shibboleths of the infamous past.