Pragmatics of Political Deception: A Study of Euphemism and Truth Evasion in Nigerian Legislative Debates

This study examines the pragmatics of political deception in Nigerian legislative debates, with specific focus on the use of euphemism and truth evasion as strategic communicative practices. Anchored in Critical Pragmatics, the study conceptualises deception not as outright lying but as the deliberate manipulation of meaning through indirect speech acts, modal expressions, implicature, and responsibility diffusion. Using a qualitative research design, the study analyses purposively selected extracts from Nigerian National Assembly debates on governance, security, economic policy, and corruption-related issues. The findings reveal that legislators consistently employ euphemistic language to soften blame, modal hedging to weaken commitment, and indirect responses to avoid direct accountability. These pragmatic strategies allow political actors to appear cooperative and institutionally respectful while obscuring agency and diluting truth. The study concludes that political deception in legislative discourse is systematic and institutionalised, with significant implications for transparency, democratic accountability, and public trust in governance