“ORIRE, NOT CHIBOK” A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF SILENCE IN LASISI OLAGUNJU’S NEWSPAPER COLUMN ON ORIRE KIDNAPPING

Abstract

One of the trending issues that continue to engage public discourse in the media is the prevailing insecurity across Nigeria. The perspectives of regular newspapers columnists on the issue have not enjoyed as much scholarly attention compared with other sociopolitical issues. This study therefore conducts a critical discourse analysis of a column titled “Why Orire was not Chibok” published by the Nigeria Tribune newspaper on July13, 2026. The study adopts a qualitative research design and anchors its analysis on Teun van Dijk’s model of CDA, particularly his ideological square theory. The findings of the study reveal that through the deployment discursive devices such as personal pronouns “I”, “We”, argumentation, disclaimer, evidential strategies, lexicalization, number game, modality, contrast, proverbs, rhetorical questions and agency representation in the column, the writer justifies “Us vs Them” ideological polarity in the way Southwestern Nigerians view security of lives compared with their Northerners. The sstudy concludes that there are social situations in which   maintaining silence is far more socially detrimental.