Strategic Impoliteness as Political Persuasion: A Pragmatic Analysis of Nyesom Wike's Discourse in the Rivers State Political Crisis.

Political discourse is inherently competitive, with politicians deploying confrontational language to negotiate power, construct identities, and shape public perception. This study examines strategic impoliteness as a persuasive resource in Nyesom Wike's political discourse, arguing that his confrontational rhetoric extends beyond mere violations of politeness norms. The data comprise five politically significant discourse events involving Wike, purposively sampled from Nigerian newspaper outlets across a bounded period of intra-party and gubernatorial conflict spanning September 2022 to August 2026, from which 22 discrete pragmkatic excerpts were purposively selected based on strategic salience and representativeness, with sampling continued until saturation. Adopting a qualitative, corpus-informed discourse-analytical approach, the study draws on Culpeper's (2011) impoliteness theory and Reyes' (2011) strategies of legitimization to identify Wike's impoliteness strategies and the persuasive work they perform before the electorate. Findings show that Wike frequently employs bald-on-record impoliteness, positive impoliteness, and sarcasm to delegitimize opponents' competence and integrity, while legitimizing his own authority through appeals to experience, projected consequences, and emotionally charged solidarity. These strategies function as both face-threatening acts and persuasive mechanisms, positioning Wike as a decisive leader against untrustworthy rivals. The study concludes that impoliteness here operates as a strategic, audience-conditioned resource, extending impoliteness theory beyond its predominantly Western contexts.