Manipulative and Recruitment Strategies in Boko Haram Terrorist Statements

Abstract

This paper investigates the discursive strategies deployed by Boko Haram terrorists (BHTs) to manipulate targets to accept their ideologies. Drawing insights from the discursive strategies by Reisigl and Wodak in critical discourse analysis, 10 BH statements released between 2009 and 2021 were qualitatively and quantitatively analysed. This paper examines the discursive tools BHTs typically deploy to authenticate their activities and manipulate their target to win and invite them to their side. Examining BHT accounts using this approach is capable of building opposing accounts capable of reducing terrorism in Nigeria, and by implication, in Africa and the world over.