A PRAGMATIC STUDY OF POLITICAL HATE SPEECHES IN SELECTED NIGERIAN NEWSPAPER

Despite the destruction caused by slavery and colonialism on Africa's political, economic and social systems, the continent's cultures and aesthetic sensibilities remain independent and vibrant, particularly in the oral forms of cultural expression. Although African societies have developed writing traditions, Africans are primarily an oral people, and it is that tradition that has dominated the cultural forms created on the continent. Artistic expression plays an important role in the lives of the African people, providing a platform for participation in the community and for exploration of the mysteries of humanity. Many poems and poet from different regions of Africa have been compared by critics both in and outside the continent but non to the best of my knowledge has compared two poets from different educational, social, religious, political, and cultural background. Also important to note, is that they are not of the same gender and they both wrote at different periods. While Okot is a Christian male from Uganda, Hannatu is a female Muslim from Nigeria. The former wrote his collection in 1972 while the latter in 1998. This study compare the works of Okotp Bitek and Hannatu T. Abdullahi using Song of Lawino, Song of Ocol and She Talks, He Talks as a case study to see how Culture, Religion, and Matrimony is represented in African poetry. The study reveals that despite the myriads of differences between Okotp'Bitek and Hannatu T. Abdullahi, their works converged in their interest in treating the issues of culture, religion and matrimony in their poems by highlighting their conflicts and resolution in the matrimonial milieus depicted in their texts.