ILLOCUTIONARY GOALS AND COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES IN ABUBAKAR SHEKAU’S ONLINE BOKO HARAM VIDEOS

Publication Details

Publication Date

10/07/2026

Volume / Issue

Vol 1, Issue 2 (2026)

Article No.

036

Journal

British Journal of Contemporary Research

Received

19 Jun 2026

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2

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0

Abstract

This paper investigated the communication strategies embedded in visual semiotic properties used by Abubakar Shekau who represented Boko Haram in the sampled videos using a multimodal analysis approach. This was aimed at predicting the goals of the sect. Ten online videos of about three minutes each were purposively selected out of the fifteen video clips where Shekau spoke to attack the Nigerian government and the entire Christians worldwide. These clips contained verbal and visual attacks on Nigerian government and Christianity and were downloaded from Agence France-Presse (AFP) and Sahara Reporters. The clips covered the violent period of Boko Haram activities between March 2012 and January 2015. The data were analysed using Kress and van Leeuwen’s multimodal theory of communication (1996, 2006), which accounted for visual-verbal analysis and complemented by Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics (2004) which accounted for the functional aspect of language. These strategies projected interpersonal and representational meanings in the clips. Visual elements were strategically balanced with corresponding verbal reactions while interpersonal choices were used with the speaker engaging locus of attention to show certain visual elements such as Ak47 automatic rifles and rocket launchers stocked in sophisticated arsenal which suggested an attempt to intimidate the Nigerian government. The visual-verbal techniques in the videos suggested that Abubakar Shekau employed language and semiotic patterns in the videos to create fear in the minds of his targets, force them to drop Westernization and institute Boko Haram’s caliphate in Nigeria.

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This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License . Free to read, share, and adapt with attribution.