Iconographic Analysis of Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Visual Genre of Cartoons and Political Communication

Abstract

Around the world, cartoons are a popular journalistic genre used in the mimical portrayal of rather severe political and socio-economic issues. The purpose of this study is to examine political cartoons on Bola Ahmed Tinubu (BAT), especially regarding his intention to be the President of Nigeria in 2023. This qualitative and descriptive study relied on primary and secondary data sources and is predicated on the visual rhetoric theory, which is the term used to describe the study of visual imagery within the discipline of rhetoric. The study employed the analytical method, and a purposive sampling technique was adopted in the cartoons’ selection. Political cartoons, articles, and commentaries of political analysts and political communication scholars on Bola Ahmed Tinubu were reviewed. The study population comprised editorial or political cartoons on BAT’s visual genre in Nigeria published from August 2021 to August 2022 in Nairaland, the second most visited Nigerian website. The findings of the study indicate that many cartoons depicting Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s presidential ambition are unsupportive of his ambition. His disputed age, uncertain health condition, and perceived corruption are some predictors of this lack of support for BAT’s presidential ambition. The paper therefore recommends that political actors should consider posterity when they act, particularly as the media, which includes cartoons, document their actions and promote narratives which posterity uses in its judgments.