METAPHOR: A LINGUISTIC TOOL FOR IDEOLOGICAL BATTLE IN THE POLITICAL DISCOURSE ON PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARIS MEDICAL VACATIONS

Nigeria, during the period of the failing health of her fifth democratic elected president, MuhammaduBuhari (PMB) witnessed a fundamental division across political line. The health status of the president became a subject of debate among opposing political gladiators and actors, whocompared the presidents medical situation with other phenomena-using metaphorical discursive strategy. This study therefore examines the metaphorical choices employed by politicians in their discourse on PMBs medical vacations abroad. This study adopts the approach of Charteris-Blacks (2004) Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA). This approach is considered appropriate because of its simple procedures which include identification, analysis and explanation of conceptual metaphor in the selected data. The scope of this study is made up of news reports, particularly from the print mediathat reported diverse opposing comments of politicians on the medical situation of PMB. The sources of these data are The Guardian and Nigerian Tribune. The study reveals that the health status of the president provides a significant ground for the use of conceptual and symbolic metaphorsto either project positive self or negative-others representation.