A Comparative Rhetorical Analysis of Nigerian Presidential Election 2015: A Public Relations Approach

In the 21st century, competitive election campaigns have become one of the most visible faces of contemporary democracy through which the electorate in different countries get to choose their leaders into both local and national political office. This research employed PR approaches to investigate presidential campaigns of two main political parties in Nigeria during the 2015 presidential election. In doing so, the study employed Comparative Rhetorical Analysis and in-depth interview with 12 campaign managers as respondents to establish and analyze PR & rhetorical strategies used by the two main political parties – the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressive Congress (APC) during the presidential campaign and election period. Findings show that comparatively APC employed strategic and integrated PR with (more) effective rhetorical campaign elements which very likely enabled them to emerge winners due, largely, to effective use of articulated rhetoric, using good ethos, pathos, and logos; while also soundly using both the two-way symmetrical communication model and the two-way asymmetrical communication model professionally during the campaign period. The study finds that PDP, on the other hand, mainly relied on their usual political campaign approach dishing out money, impunity, hate speeches, and virtual absence of usage of two-way symmetrical communication model within the party which likely further affected their public outreach during the campaigns. The study concludes that APC won the election based on the “Change” campaign brand of the fight against corruption, better security for the citizenry, and good economy for the country; while PDP appears to have lost the election based on the reliance on the message of “continuity” agenda in spite of incumbency and having hired seasoned PR experts. Keywords: Excellence theory, Rhetorical Discourse Analysis, PR, Rhetoric, Electioneering campaign, APC, PDP, 2015 Presidential election in Nigeria.