Ideological constructs in placards on the #EndSARS protest in Nigeria

Abstract

The #EndSARS protest in Nigeria was an unusual, uncommon and unanticipated experience. It has enjoyed scholarly inquiries from many academic disciplines, but an ideological exploration of the wordings on the placards displayed by the protesting youths at the peak of the protest has not enjoyed sufficient attention. this study, therefore, investigates how language is used to depict the outcry of the Nigerian youths over the excesses of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad with a view to identifying the inherent issues surrounding the protest and addressing such issues in order to forestall such occurrences in the future. Michael Halliday's transitivity system, van Dijk's ideological square and elements of paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations were eclectically deployed to analyse eight purposively selected placards gathered on Twitter. three issues found in the data were the brutality of the government, the self-vindication of the youth and the de-emphasis of social prohibition. the material process of transitivity which involves action words was mainly deployed in the expression of government brutality through the cruel and inhumane actions of the SARS officials. the self-vindication of the youth was mainly revealed through the relational process with which the youth dissociated themselves from certain identities while depicting themselves differently. De-emphasis of social prohibition is achieved through relational and mental processes and it showed the subtle attempt to hide under a protest to proclaim unlawful acts. the study concludes that an ideological investigation of the protest can subsequently help prevent a similar experience.